The inner life of Abraham Lincoln : six months at the White House

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THE

INNER LIFE

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

F. B. CARPENTER.

TWENTY-FO UR TH THO USAND.

NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON,

459 Broome Street.

1868.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867- by
Hurd and Houghton,
the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of
New Ycrx.

RIYERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE.

STEREOTYPED AHD PRINTED BT

b o. ironsnTox AND COMPANY.

PREFACE.

In offering this volume to the public I shall at-
tempt no apology for its shortcomings, other than to
say that its production is the result of the unex-
pected popularity of the series of articles, relating
to the illustrious subject of whom it mainly treats,
which were commenced in the New York " Inde-
pendent " soon after the assassination.

Written in a spirit of enthusiasm and affection,
which there has been no effort to disguise, the book
is, nevertheless, a simple matter-of-fact record of
daily experience and observation, fragmentary, but
true, in all essential particulars. There has been
no disposition to select from, embellish, or sup-
press, any portion of the material in my possession.
The incidents given were not in any sense isolated
exceptions to the daily routine of Mr. Lincoln's
life. My aim has been throughout these pages to
portray the man as he was revealed to me, without
any attempt at idealization.

Tl PREFACE.

In additic 1 to my own reminiscences, I have
woven into the book various personal incidents,
published and unpublished, which bear intrinsic evi-
dence of genuineness, — attaching in these instances,
where it seemed necessary and proper, the sources
of such contributions.

I am not one of those inclined to believe that
Mr. Lincoln, in the closing months of his career,
reached the full measure of his greatness. Man
may not read the future : but it is my firm convic-
tion, that, had he lived through his second term, he
would have continued to grow, as he had grown, in
the estimation and confidence of his countrymen ;
rising to a grander moral height with every emer-
gency, careful always to weigh every argument op-
posed to his convictions, but, once mounted upon
those convictions, grounded in righteousness, as im-
movable as one of the giant ranges of our own
Rocky Mountains !

Aspiring in no sense to the dignity of a biography,
this volume will fulfil its object if it helps to any
better knowledge of one, who, apart from the rev-
erence with which he ever will be regarded for his
connection with the cause of human Freedom, was
the best product and exemplar which the world
has yet seen of American soil and institutions ; the

PREFACE. vil

study of whose character, illustrating as it did the

highest form of statesmanship, founded upon truth,

justice, and solid integrity, combining the deepest

wisdom with a child-like freshness and simplicity, —

will be of perpetual interest and value.

F. B. C.

96 Wesi 4bt/t Street, New York.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

I.

I leave to other and abler pens the proper esti-
mate of Abraham Lincoln as a ruler and states-
man,— his work and place in history. Favored
during the year 1864 with several months of per-
sonal intercourse with him, I shall attempt in these
pages to write the story of that association ; not for
any value which the record will have in itself, but
for the glimpses it may afford of the person and
character of the man, — every detail of whose life
is now invested with enduring interest for the
American people.

IT.

That Art should aim to embody and express the
spirit and best thought of its own age seems self-
evident. If it fails to do this, whatever else it may
accomplish, it falls short of its highest object. It
cannot dwell always among classic forms, nor clothe
its conceptions in the imagery pf an old and worn-
Dut world. It must move on, if it is to keep pace

10 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

with that " increasing purpose which through the
ages runs,'' and its ideals must be wrought out of
the strife of a living humanity.

It has been well said by a recent writer : " The
record of the human family to the advent of Christ,
was the preparation of the photographic plate for
its image. All subsequent history is the bringing
out of the divine ideal of true manhood." Slowly,
but surely, through the centuries, is this purpose
being accomplished. Human slavery has been the
material type or expression of spiritual bondage.
On the lowest or physical plane, it has symbolized
the captivity and degradation of our higher nature ;
with the breaking in of new light, and the inspira-
tion of a deeper life, it is inevitably doomed. That
man, to attain the full development of the faculties
implanted in him, must be in spiritual and physical
freedom, is a principle which lies at the foundation
of all government ; and the enfranchisement of a
race to-day thus becomes the assertion and promise
of a true and coming Emancipation for all men.

III.

When Abraham Lincoln, called from the hum-
blest rank in life to preside over the nation during
the most momentous period of its history, uttered
his Proclamation of Freedom, — shattering forever
the chains which bound four millions of human
beings in slavery ; an act unparalleled for mora.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 11

grandeur in the history of mankind, — it was evi-
dent to all who sought beneath the surface for the
cause of the war that the crisis was past, — that
so surely as Heaven is on the side of Right and
Justice, the North would triumph in the great
struggle which had assumed the form of a direct
issue between Freedom and Slavery.

In common with many others, I had from the
beginning of the war believed that the government
would not be successful in putting down a rebellion
based upon slavery as its avowed corner-stone, with-
out striking a death-blow at the institution itself.
As the months went on, and disappointment and
disaster succeeded one another, this conviction deep-
ened into certainty. When at length, in obedience
to what seemed the very voice of God, the thun-
derbolt was launched, and, like the first gun at Con-
cord, " was heard around the world," all the enthu-
siasm of my nature was kindled. The " beast "
Secession, offspring of the " dragon '' Slavery, draw-
ing in his train a third part of our national stars,
was pierced with the deadly wound which could not
be healed. It was the combat between Michael and
Satan of Apocalyptic vision, reenacted before the
eyes of the nineteenth century.

IV.

To paint a picture which should commemorate
this new epoch in the history of Liberty, was a

12 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

dream which took form and shape in my mind to-
wards the close of the year 1863, ■ — the year made
memorable in its dawn by the issue of the final de-
cree. With little experience to adapt me for the
execution of such a work, there had nevertheless
come to me at times glowing conceptions of the true
purpose and character of Art, and an intense desire
to do something expressive of appreciation of the
great issues involved in the war. The painters
of old had delighted in representations of the birth
from the ocean of Venus, the goddess of love.
Ninety years ago upon this Western continent had
been witnessed — no dream of fable, but a substan-
tial fact — the immaculate conception of Constitu-
tional Liberty ; and at length through great travail
its consummation had been reached. The long-
prayed-for year of jubilee had come ; the bonds of
the oppressed were loosed ; the prison doors were
opened. " Behold," said a voice, " how a Man
may be exalted to a dignity and glory almost divine,
and give freedom to 2t race. Surely Art should
unite with Eloquence and Poetry to celebrate such
a theme."

I conceived of that band of men, upon whcm
the eyes of the world centred as never before upon
ministers of state, gathered in council, depressed,
perhaps disheartened at the vain efforts of many
months to restore the supremacy of the govern-
ment. I saw, in thought, the head of the nation,
bowed down with his weight of care and responsi*

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 13

bility, solemnly announcing, as he unfolded the pre-
pared draft of the Proclamation, that the time foi
the inauguration of this policy had arrived ; I en-
deavored to imagine the conflicting emotions of
satisfaction, doubt, and distrust with which such an
announcement would be received by men of the
varied characteristics of the assembled councillors.

For several weeks the design of the picture was
slowly maturing, during which time, however, no
line was drawn upon paper or canvas. Late one
evening, absorbed in thought upon the subject, I
took up an unframed photograph lying carelessly in
my room, and upon the blank side of this, roughly
and hastily sketched, was embodied the central idea
of the composition as it had shaped itself in my
mind.

To one disposed to look for coincidences in daily
life, and regard its events as no mere succession of
accidents, there must often come those which wear
a deep significance. In seeking a point of unity
or action for the picture, I was impressed with the
conviction that important modifications followed the
reading of the Proclamation at the suggestion of
the Secretary of State, and I determined upon such
an incident as the moment of time to be repre-
sented. I was subsequently surprised and gratified
when Mr. Lincoln himself, reciting the history of
the Proclamation to me, dwelt particularly upon
die fact that not only was the time of its issue de-
cided by Secretary Seward's advice, but that one

14 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

of the most important words in the document was
added through his strenuous representations.

The central thought of the picture once decideo
upon and embodied, the rest naturally followed;
one after another the seven figures surrounding the
President dropped into their places. Those sup-
posed to have held the purpose of the Proclamation
as their long conviction, were placed prominently in
the foreground in attitudes which indicated their
support of the measure ; the others were represented
in varying moods of discussion or silent deliberation.

A few evenings after the completion of the de-
sign I went to see a friend who I knew was inti-
mate with the Hon. Schuyler Colfax and Hon.
Owen Lovejoy, through whom I hoped to obtain
Mr. Lincoln's assent to my plan. I revealed to
him my purpose, and asked his assistance in carry-
ing it into effect. During the following week he
went to Washington, and in company with Mr.
Colfax called upon the President, and laid before
him my project. He kindly listened to the details,
and then said : " In short, if I understand you,
you wish me to consent to sit to this artist for the
picture ? " My friends acknowledged this to be the
object of their errand. Mr. Lincoln at once, with
his accustomed kindness, promised his cooperation.

The last day of the year the Hon. Mr. Lovejoy,
whom I had never met, but who had become warmly
interested in the execution of the work, being in
New York, called at my studio with the wife of my

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 15

friend, who had been my earnest advocate. At the
close of the interview he remarked, in his quaint
way, taking me by the hand, " In the words of
Scripture, my good friend, I can say now I believe,
not on account of the saying of the woman, but
because I have seen for mvself."

Impracticable as my scheme had at first seemed,
the way was thus opened for its execution. When
fairly committed to the purpose, however, the want
of means and the magnitude of the undertaking al-
most disheartened me. My original plan embraced
a canvas sufficiently large for a life-size group of
the President and entire Cabinet ; to paint such
a picture would consume many months, perhaps
years. Enthusiasm alone would never accomplish
the work. The few friends to whom I should have
felt at liberty to apply for help were not wealthy.
Who outside of these could be persuaded that a
work of the character and proportions contemplated,
undertaken by an artist of no experience in his-
torical studies, would not end in utter failure?

I had left my home at the usual hour one morn-
ing, pondering the difficulty which, like Bunyan's
lions, seemed now to block the way. As one alter-
native after another presented itself to my mind and
was rejected, the prospect appeared less and less
hopeful. I at length found myself in Broadway at

16 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the foot of the stairs leading up to my studio. A
gentleman at this moment attracted my attention,
standing with his back towards me, looking at some
pictures exposed in the window of the shop below.
Detecting, as I thought, something familiar in his
air and manner, I waited until he turned his face,
and then found I was not mistaken ; it was an old
acquaintance who five years before lived near me in
Brooklyn, engaged in a similar struggle for a liveli-
hood with myself, though his profession was law
instead of art.

We had both changed our residences and had not
met for years. After a cordial greeting, he ac-
cepted my invitation to ascend to the studio. I had
heard that he had been successful in some business
ventures, but the matter made but little impression
upon me, and had been forgotten. Suddenly there
seemed to come into my mind the words : " This
man has been sent to you." Full of the singular
impression, I laid before him my conception. He
heard me through, and then asked if I was sure
of Prasident Lincoln's consent and cooperation. I
informed him of the pledge which had been given
me. " Then," said he, " you shall paint the pict-
ure. Take plenty of time, — make it the great
work of your life, — and draw upon me for what-
ever funds you will require to the end." *

* To Mr. Samuel Sinclair, of the New York Tribune, for the intro-
duction to Mr. Lincoln, and to Frederick A. Lane, Esq., of New
York, for the generous aid thus extended, I shall ever be indebted foi
the accomplishment of my work.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 17

VI.

On the evening of February 4th, 1864, I went
to Washington. Shortly after noon of the follow-
ing day, I rang the bell at Mr. Lovejoy's residence
on Fifteenth Street. To my sorrow, I found him
very ill ; but it was hoped by his friends that he
was then improving. Though very feeble, he in-
sisted upon seeing me, and calling for writing mate-
rials, sat up in bed to indite a note introducing
me to the President. This, handed to me open, I
read. One expression I have not forgotten, it was
so like Mr. Lincoln himself, as I afterward came
to know him. "I am gaining very slowly. — It is
hard work drawing the sled up-hill." And this
suggests the similaritv there was between these
men. Lovejoy had much more of the agitator, the
reformer, in his nature, but both drew the inspira-
tion of their lives from the same source, and it
was founded in sterling honesty. Their modes of
thought and illustration were remarkably alike.
It is not strange that they should have been bosom
friends. The President called repeatedly to see him
during his illness ; and it was on one of these occa-
sions that he said to him, " This war is eating my
life out ; I have a strong impression that I shall
not live to see the end." Mr. Lovejoy's health
subsequently improved, and for a change he went
to Brooklyn, N. Y., where, it will be remembered.

18 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

he had a relapse, and died, universally mourned as
one of the truest and most faithful of our states-
men. Mr. Lincoln did not hear from him directly
after he left Washington. Through a friend 1
learned by letter that he was lying at the point of
death. This intelligence I communicated to the
President the same evening, in the vestibule of the
White House, — meeting him on his way to the
War Department. He was deeply affected by it.
His only words were, " Lovejoy was the best friend
I had in Congress."

To return from this pardonable digression, — I
took the note of introduction at once to the White
House ; but no opportunity was afforded me of
presenting it during the day. The following morn-
ing passed with the same result, and I then resolved
to avail myself of Mrs. Lincoln's Saturday after-
noon reception — at which, I was told, the President
would be present — to make myself known to him.
Two o'clock found me one of the throng pressing
toward the centre of attraction, the "blue" room.
From the threshold of the " crimson " parlor as
I passed, I had a glimpse of the gaunt figure
of Mr. Lincoln in the distance, haggard -looking,
dressed in black, relieved only by the prescribed
white gloves ; standing, it seemed to me, solitary
and alone, though surrounded by the crowd, bend-
ing low now and then in the process of hand-
shaking, and responding half abstractedly to the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 19

well-meant greetings of the miscellaneous assem-
blage. Never shall I forget the electric thrill which
went through my whole being at this instant. T
seemed to see lines radiating from every part of
the globe, converging to a focus at the point where
that plain, awkward-looking man stood, and to hear
in spirit a million prayers, " as the sound of many
waters," ascending in his behalf. Mingled with
supplication I could discern a clear symphony of
triumph and blessing, swelling with an ever-increas-
ing volume. It was the voice of those who had
been bondmen and bondwomen, and the grand
diapason swept up from the coming ages.

It was soon my privilege, in the regular succes-
sion, to take that honored hand. Accompanying
the act, my name and profession were announced
to him in a low tone by one of the assistant private
secretaries, who stood by his side. Retaining my
hand, he looked at me inquiringly for an instant,
and said, " Oh yes ; I know ; this is the painter."
Then straightening himself to his full height, with
a twinkle of the eye, he added, playfully, " Do
yon think, Mr. C , that you can make a hand-
some picture of me ? " emphasizing strongly the
last word. Somewhat confused at this point-blank
shot, uttered in a tone so loud as to attract the
attention of those in immediate proximity, I made
a random reply, and took the occasion to ask
if I could see him in his study at the close of

20 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the reception. To this he responded in the
peculiar vernacular of the West, " I reckon,'1
resuming meanwhile the mechanical and tradi-
tional exercise of the hand which no President
has ever yet been able to avoid, and which, se-
vere as is the ordeal, is likely to attach t:>
the position, so long as the Republic endures.

VII.

The appointed hour found me at the well-remem-
bered door of the official chamber, — that door
watched daily, with so many conflicting emotions
of hope and fear, by the anxious throng regularly
gathered there. The President had preceded me,
and was already deep in Acts of Congress, with
which the writing-desk was strewed, awaiting his
signature. He received me pleasantly, giving me
a seat near his own arm-chair ; and after having
read Mr. Lovejoy's note, he took off his spectacles,

and said, " Well, Mr. C , we will turn you

in loose here, and try to give you a good chance to
work out your idea." Then, without paying much
attention to the enthusiastic expression of my am-
bitious desire and purpose, he proceeded to give me
a detailed account of the history and issue of the
great proclamation.

" It had got to be," said he, " midsummer, 1862.
Things had gone on from bad to worse, until I felt
that we had reached the end of our rope on the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 21

plan of operations we had been pursuing ; tuat we
had about played our last card, and must change
our tactics, or lose the game ! I now determined
upon the adoption of the emancipation policy ; and,
without consultation with, or the knowledge of the
Cabinet, I prepared the original draft of the proc-
lamation, and, after much anxious thought, called
a Cabinet meeting upon the subject. This was the
last of Jul j, or the first part of the month of August,
1862." (The exact date he did not remember.)
hi This Cabinet meeting took place, I think, upon a
Saturday. All were present, excepting Mr. Blair,
the Postmaster-General, who was absent at the
opening of the discussion, but came in subse-
quently. I said to the Cabinet that I had resolved
upon this step, and had not called them together to
ask their advice, but to lay the subject-matter of a
proclamation before them ; suggestions as to which
would be in order, after they had heard it read.
Mr. Lovejoy," said he, " was in error when he in-
formed you that it excited no comment, excepting
on the part of Secretary Seward. Various sug-
gestions were offered. Secretary Chase wished the
language stronger in reference to the arming of the
blacks. Mr. Blair, after he came in, deprecated the
policy, on the ground that it would cost the Admin-
istration the fall elections. Nothing, however, was
vffered that I had not already fully anticipated and
settled in my own mind, until Secretary Seward
Bpoke. He said in substance : ' Mr. President, I

2*2 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

approve of the proclamation, but I question the ex-
pediency of its issue at this juncture. The depres-
sion of" the public mind, consequent upon our
repeated reverses, is so great that I fear the effect
of so important a step. It may be viewed as the
last measure of an exhausted government, a cry
for help ; the government stretching forth its hands
to Ethiopia, instead of Ethiopia stretching forth her
hands to the government.' His idea," said the
President, " was that it would be considered our last
shriek, on the retreat." (This was his precise ex-
pression.) " ( Now,' continued Mr. Seward, 4 while
I approve the measure, I suggest, sir, that you post-
pone its issue, until you can give it to the country
supported by military success, instead of issuing
it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest
disasters of the war ! ' ' Mr. Lincoln continued :
" The wisdom of the view of the Secretary of State
struck me with very great force. It was an aspect
of the case that, in all my thought upon the subject,
I had entirely overlooked. The result was that I
put the draft of the proclamation aside, as you do
your sketch for a picture, waiting for a victory.
From time to time I added or changed a line,
touching it up here and there, anxiously watching
the progress of events. Well, the next news we
had was of Pope's disaster, at Bull Run. Things
looked darker than ever. Finally, came the week
of the battle of Antietam. I determined to wait no
longer. The news came, I think, on Wednesday.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 23

tnat the advantage was on our side. I was then
staying at the Soldiers' Home, (three miles out
of Washington.") Here I finished writing the see-
ond draft of the preliminary proclamation ; came up
on Saturday ; called the Cabinet together to hear
it, and it was published the following Monday."

At the final meeting of September 20th, another
interesting incident occurred in connection with
Secretary Seward. The President had written
the important part of the proclamation in these
words : —

" That, on the first day of January, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three, all persons held as slaves within any State
or designated part of a State, the people whereof
shall then be in rebellion against the United States,
shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ;
and the Executive Government of the United
States, including the military and naval authority
thereof, will recognize the freedom of such persons,
and will do no act or acts to repress such persons,
or any of them, in any efforts they may make for
their actual freedom." " When 1 finished read-
ing this paragraph," resumed Mr. Lincoln, " Mr.
Seward stopped me, and said, l I think, Mr. Pres-
ident, that you should insert after the word " recog-
nize,'? in that sentence, the words " and maintain. "'
[ replied that I had already fully considered the
import of that expression in this connection, but I
had not introduced it, because it was not my way

24 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

to promise what . I was not entirely sure that ]
could perform, and I was not prepared to say that
I thought we were exactly able to i maintain ' this."

" But," said he, M Seward insisted that we ought
to take this ground ; and the words finally went
in!"

" It is a somewhat remarkable fact," he subse-
quently remarked, " that there were just one hun-
dred days between the dates of the two proclama-
tions issued upon the 22d of September and the
1st of January. I had not made the calculation
at the time."

Having concluded this interesting statement, the
President then proceeded to show me the various
positions occupied by himself and the different
members of the Cabinet, on the occasion of the first
meeting. " As nearly as I remember," said he, " I
sat near the head of the table ; the Secretary of the
Treasury and the Secretary of War were here, at
my right hand ; the others were grouped at the
left."

At this point, I exhibited to him a pencil sketch
of the composition as I had conceived it, with no
knowledge of the facts or details. The leading
ulea of this I found, as I have stated on a previous
page, to be entirely consistent with the account I
had just heard. I saw, however, that I should
have to reverse the picture, placing the President
at the other end of the table, to make it accord
with his description. I had resolved to discard all

SIX MONTHS Al THE WHITE HOUSE. 25

appliances and tricks of picture-making, and en-
deavor, as faithfully as possible, to represent the
scene as it actually transpired ; room, furniture,
accessories, all were to be painted from the actual-
ities. It was a scene second only in historical im-
portance and interest to that of the Declaration
of Independence ; and I felt assured, that, if hon-
estly and earnestly painted, it need borrow no in-
terest from imaginary curtain or column, gorgeous
furniture or allegorical statue. Assenting heartily
to what is called the "realistic" school of art,
when applied to the illustration of historic events,
I felt in this case, that I had no more right to de-
part from the facts, than has the historian in his
record.

When friends said to me, as they frequently did,
" Your picture will be bald and barren," my re-
ply was, " If I cannot make the portraiture of the
scene itself sufficiently attractive without the false
glitter of tapestry hangings, velvet table-cloths, and
marble columns, then I shall at least have the satis-
faction of having failed in the cause of truth." I
reasoned in this way: The most important docu-
ment submitted to a cabinet during our existence
as a nation is under discussion. A spectator per-
mitted to look in upon that scene would give little
thought and small heed to the mere accessories and
adjuncts of the occasion. His mind would centre
upon the immortal document, — its anxious author,
conscious of his solemn responsibility, announcing

26 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

his matured and inflexible purpose to his assem-
bled councillors. He would listen with mpar-
alleled eagerness to the momentous sentences
uttered for the first time in the ears of men, and
to the discussion upon them, impatient of mere
formalities and technicalities. Should a thought be
sprung of important bearing, or an overlooked con-
tingency be brought forward, bow intently would
its effect be watched. What varying emotions,
consequent upon peculiarities of temperament and
character, would be expressed in the countenances
of the different individuals composing the group.
How each in turn would be scanned. Above all, the
issues involved : — the salvation of the Republic —
the freedom of a Race. " Surely," I said, " such a
scene may be painted, and abiding if not absorbing
interest secured, without the aid of conventional
trappings. The republican simplicity of the room
and furniture, with its thronging associations, will
more than counterbalance the lack of splendor, and
the artistic mania for effect. I will depend solely
for my success upon the interest of the subject,
and its truthfulness of representation." And this
purpose I carried with me to the end.

VIII.

The first sketch of the composition, as it was
afterward placed upon the canvas, was matured, 1
believe, the same afternoon, or the following Mon-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 27

day after the interview recorded above, upon the
back of a visiting card ; my pockets affording evi-
dence of the employment of all loose material at
hand in leisure moments, in the study of the
work. The final arrangement of the figures was
the result of much thought and many combina-
tions, though the original conception as to the
moment of time and incident of action was pre-
served throughout. The general arrangement of.
the group, as described by the President, was for-
tunately entirely consistent with my purpose, which
was to give that prominence to the different indi-
viduals which belonged to them respectively in the
Administration. There was a curious mingling of
fact .and allegory in my mind, as I assigned to each
his place on the canvas. There were two elements
in the Cabinet, the radical and the conservative.
Mr. Lincoln was placed at the head of the offi-
cial table, between two groups, nearest that repre-
senting the radical, but the uniting point of both.
The chief powers of a government are War and
Finance : the ministers of these wrere at his right,
— the Secretary of War, symbolizing the great
struggle, in the immediate foreground ; the Sec-
retary of the Treasury, actively supporting the
new policy, standing by the President's side. The
Army being the right hand, the Navy may very
properly be styled the left hand of the govern-
ment. The place for the Secretary of the Navy
§eemed, therefore, very naturally to be on Mr. Lin-

28 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

coin's left, at the rear of the table. To the Secretary
of State, as the great expounder of the principles of
the Republican p'arty, the profound and sagacious
statesman, would the attention of all at such a time
be given. Entitled to precedence in discussion by
his position in the Cabinet, he would necessarily form
one of the central figures of the group. The four
chief officers of the government were thus brought,
in accordance with their relations to the Admin-
istration, nearest the person of the President, who,
with the manuscript proclamation in hand, which
he had just read, was represented leaning forward,
listening to, and intently considering the views pre-
sented by the Secretary of State. The Attorney-
General, absorbed in the constitutional questions
involved, with folded arms, was placed at the foot
of the table opposite the President. The Secre-
tary of the Interior and the Postmaster-General,
occupying the less conspicuous positions of the
Cabinet, seemed to take their proper places in the
background of the picture.

When, at length, the conception as thus de-
scribed was sketched upon the large canvas, and
Mr. Lincoln came in to see it, his gratifying re-
mark, often subsequently repeated, was, "It is as
good as it can be made."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 29

IX.

I have thus revealed, step by step, the 'vental
process by which the picture of which I write
came into being. Whether the story bears any
analogy to that by which the works of others have
been produced, or the composition conforms te.
established rules and precedents in art or not, is to
me a matter of indifference. I was true to my
intuitions, and endeavored to adhere as faithfully as
practicable to the facts.

It is not my purpose to follow in detail the
progress, thenceforward, of the work. As the
thread upon which are strung my memories of
the late President, allusions to it will be unavoid-
able 'throughout these pages ; but hereafter I in-
tend that they shall be subordinate and incidental
to matters of more general interest. It is not too
much to say that the enthusiasm in which the work
was conceived, flagged not to the end. The days
were too short for labor upon it. Lighting at
nightfall the great chandelier of the state dining-
room, which was finally assigned me for a studio
instead of the library, where the windows were
shaded by the portico, the morning light frequently
broke in upon me still standing pencil or palette
in hand, before the immense canvas, unable to
oreak the spell which bound me to it.

30 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

X.

" We will turn you in loose here," proved
an u open sesame " to me during the subsequent
months of my occupation at the White House.
My access to the official chamber was made nearly
as free as that of the private secretaries, unless
soecial business was being transacted. Sometimes
a stranger, approaching the President with a low
tone, would turn an inquiring eye toward the
place where I sat, absorbed frequently in a pencil
sketch of some object in the room. This would be
met by the hearty tones of Mr. Lincoln, — I can
hear them yet ringing in my ears, — " Oh, you
need not mind him ; he is but a painter." There
was a satisfaction to me, differing from that of any
other experience, in simply sitting with him. Ab-
sorbed in his papers, he would become unconscious
of my presence, while I intently studied every line
and shade of expression in that furrowed face. In
repose, it was the saddest face I ever knew. There
were days when I could scarcely look into it with-
out crying. During the first week of the battles of
the Wilderness he scarcely slept at all. Passing
through the main hall of the domestic apartment
on one of these days, I met him, clad in a long
morning wrapper, pacing back and forth a narrow
passage leading to one of the windows, his hands
behind him, great black rings under his eyes, his
head bent forward unon his breast, — altogether

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 31

such a picture of the effects of sorrow, care, and
anxiety as would have melted the hearts of the
worst of his adversaries, who so mistakenly ap-
plied to him the epithets of tyrant and usurper.
With a sorrow almost divine, he, too, could ha\ e
said of the rebellious States, " How often would I
have gathered you together, even as a hen gath-
ereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not!" Like another Jeremiah, he wept over the
desolations of the nation ; " he mourned the slain
of the daughter of his people."

Surely, ruler never manifested so much sympa-
thy, and tenderness, and charity. How like the
last words of the Divine one himself, " Father, for-
give them, for they know not what they do," will
the closing sentences of his last inaugural address
resound in solemn cadence through the coming
centuries. Truly and well says the London " Spec-
tator" of that address: "We cannot read it with-
out a renewed conviction that it is the noblest polit-
ical document known to history, and should have
for the nation and the statesmen he left behind
him something of a sacred and almost prophetic
character. Surely, none was ever written under a
stronger sense of the reality of God's government.
And certainly none written in a period of passion-
ate conflict ever so completely excluded the par-
tiality of victorious faction, and breathed so pure
a strain of mingled justice and mercy."

32 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

XL

The following Tuesday I spent with Mr. Lin-
coln in his study. The morning was devoted to
the Judge - Advocate - General, who had a large
number of court-martial cases to submit to the
President. Never had I realized what it was to
iiave power, as on this occasion. As case after
case was presented to Mr. Lincoln, one stroke of
his pen confirmed or commuted the sentence of
death. In several instances Judge Holt referred
to extenuating circumstances, — extreme youth,
previous good conduct, or recommendations to
mercy. Every excuse of this kind, having a foun-
dation in fact, was instantly seized upon by the
President, who, taking the document containing the
sentence, would write upon the back of it the
lightest penalty consistent with any degree of jus-
tice. As he added the date to one of these papers,
he remarked casually, varying the subject of con-
versation, " Does your mind, Judge Holt, associate
events with dates ? Every time this morning that
I have had occasion to write the day of the month,
the thought has come up, 4 This was General Har-
rison's birthday.' " One of the cases brought for-
ward at this time I recollect distinctly. The man's
name was Burroughs ; he had been a notorious spy ;
convicted and sentenced to death, a strong effort
had been made in his behalf by powerful friends.
It was an aggravated case, but an impression had

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 33

evidently been made upon the President by the
strength and pertinacity of the appeal. As Judge
Holt opened the record, he stated that a short time
previous Burroughs had attempted to escape from
confinement, and was shot dead in the act by the
sentinel on guard. With an expression of relief,
Mr. Lincoln rejoined, " I ought to be obliged to
him for taking his fate into his own hands ; he has
saved me a deal of trouble."

During a brief absence of the President, Judge
Holt told me that the atrocities of some of the
criminals condemned, surpassed belief. " A gue-
rilla leader in Missouri," said he, " by the name
of Nichols, was in the habit of filling the ears of
wounded Unionists who fell into his hands with
gunpowder, setting fire to it, and blowing their
heads to pieces. When captured, a number of hu-
man ears were found upon his person." Referring
to Mr. Lincoln's disposition to pardon or commute
the majority of the death sentences, he remarked,
" The President is without exception the most ten-
dar- hearted man I ever knew."

Judge Holt, it will be remembered, was called
into Mr. Buchanan's cabinet towards the close of
his administration. Glancing around the room, —
incidentally referring to my errand there, — he
said, " This room was the theatre of some very
exciting scenes during the last months of Mr. Bu-
chanan's term." He spoke warmly of the cour-
age and fearlessness of Stanton, on those occasions,

34 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

who did not hesitate to call traitors and treason
their right names.

When the clock struck twelve, Mr. Lincoln
drew back from the table, and with a stretch of his
long arms, remarked, " I guess we will go no far-
ther with these cases to-day ; I am a little tired
and the Cabinet will be coming in soon." u I be-
lieve, by the by," he added, " that I have not yet
had my breakfast, — this business has been so ab-
sorbing that it has crowded everything else out of
my mind."

And so ended the work of one morning ; simple
in its detail, but pregnant with hope and joy, dark-
ness and death, to many human beings.

XII.

As the different members of the Cabinet came
in, the President introduced me, adding in several
instances, — " He has an idea of painting a picture
of us all together." This, of course, started con-
versation on the topic of art. Presently a reference
was made by some one to Jones, the sculptor,
whose bust of Mr. Lincoln was in the crimson
parlor below. The President, I think, was writing
at this instant. Looking up, he said, " Jones tells
a good story of General Scott, of whom he once
made a bust. Having a fine subject to start with,
ne succeeded in giving great satisfaction. At the
closing sitting he attempted to define and elab-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 35

orate the lines and markings of the face. The
General sat patiently ; but when he came to see
the result, his countenance indicated decided dis-
pleasure. 4 Why, Jones, what have you been do-
ing ? ' he asked. ' Oh,' rejoined the sculptor, c not
much, I confess, General ; I have been working
out the details of the face a little more, this morn-
ing.' 'Details?' exclaimed the General, warmly ;

' the details ! Why, my man, you are spoil

ing the bust ! ' "

At three o'clock the President was to accompany
me, by appointment, to Brady's photographic gal-
leries on Pennsylvania Avenue. The carriage had
been ordered, and Mrs. Lincoln, who was to accom-
pany us, had come down at the appointed hour,
dressed for the ride, when one of those vexations,
incident to all households, occurred. Neither car-
riage or coachman was to be seen. The President
and myself stood upon the threshold of the door
under the portico, awaiting the result of the in-
quiry for the coachman, when a letter was put
into his hand. While he was reading this, people
were passing, as is customary, up and down the
promenade, which leads through the grounds to the
War Department, crossing, of course, the portico.
My attention was attracted to an approaching party,
apparently a countryman, plainly dressed, with his
wife and two little boys, who had evidently been
straying about, looking at the places of public inter-
est in the city. As they reached the portico, the

36 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

father, who was in advance, caught sight of the tall
figure of Mr. Lincoln, absorbed in his letter. His
wife and the little boys were ascending the steps.
The man stopped suddenly, put out his hand with
a " hush " to his family, and, after a moment's
gaze, he bent down and whispered to them, —
" There is the President ! " Then leaving them,
he slowly made a half circuit around Mr. Lincoln,
watching him intently all the while. At this point,
having finished his letter, the President turned to
me, and said : " Well, we will not wait any longer
for the carriage ; it won't hurt you and me to
walk down." The countryman here approached
very diffidently, and asked if he might be allowed
to take the President by the hand; after which,
" Would he extend the same privilege to his wife
and little boys ? " Mr. Lincoln good-naturedly ap-
proached the latter, who had remained where they
were stopped, and, reaching down, said a kind
word to the bashful little fellows, who shrank
close up to their mother, and did not reply. This
simple act filled the father's cup full. " The Lord
is with yGu, Mr. President," he said reverently ;
and then, hesitating a moment, he added, with
strong emphasis, " and the people too, sir ; and the
people too ! "

The walk, of a mile or more, was made very
agreeable and interesting to me by a variety of
stories, of which Mr. Lincoln's mind was so pro-
lific. Something was said soon after we started

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 37

about the penalty which attached to high positions
in a democratic government — the tribute those
filling them were compelled to pay to the pub-
lic. " Great men," said Mr. Lincoln, " have vari-
ous estimates. When Daniel Webster made his
tour through the West years ago, he visited Spring-
field among other places, where great preparations
had been made to receive him. As the procession
was going through the town, a barefooted little
darkey boy pulled the sleeve of a man named T.,
and asked, — ' What the folks were all doing down
the street?' 4 Why, Jack,' was the reply, 'the
biggest man in the world is coming.' Now, there
lived in Springfield a man by the name of G., — a
very corpulent man. Jack darted off down the
street, but presently returned, with a very disap-
pointed air. 4 Well, did you see him ? ' inquired T.
1 Yees,' returned Jack ; 4 but laws — he ain't half as
big as old G.' "

Shortly afterward, he spoke of Mr. Ewing, who
was in both President Harrison's and President
Taylor's cabinet. " Those men," said he, " were,
you know, when elected, both of advanced years,
— sages. Ewing had received, in some way, the
nickname of 4 Old Solitude.' Soon after the for-
mation of Taylor's cabinet, Webster and Ewing
happened to meet at an evening party. As they
approached each other, Webster, who was in fine
spirits, uttered, in his deepest bass tones, the well-
known lines, —

38 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" ' 0 Solitude, where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face V ' "

The evening of Tuesday I dined with Mr.
Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury, of whom I
painted a portrait in 1855, upon the close of his
term as United States Senator. He said during
the dinner, that, shortly after the dedication of the
cemetery at Gettysburg, the President told this
story at a cabinet meeting. " Thad. Stevens was
asked by some one, the morning of the day ap-
pointed for that ceremony, where the President
and Mr. Seward were going. ' To Gettysburg,'
was the reply. 4 But where are Stanton and
Chase ? ' continued the questioner. ■ At home,
at work,' was the surly answer ; 4 let the dead
bury the dead.' " This was some months pre-
vious to the Baltimore Convention, when it was
thought by some of the leaders of the party, that
Mr. Lincoln's chances for a re-nomination were
somewhat dubious.

Levee night occurring weekly, during the
regular season, was always a trying one to the
President. Whenever sympathy was expressed
for him, however, he would turn it off playfully,
asserting that the tug at his hand was much
easier to bear than that upon his heartstrings for
all manner of favors beyond his power to grant, to
which he had daily to submit. As I took his hand
at the levee, which closed my first day's experi-
ences with him, he said in his homely way,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 39

" Well, C, you have seen one day's run; — what
is your opinion of it? "

XIII.

Wednesday morning was devoted to the contin-
ued examination of the court-martial cases, to the
great vexation of a score of political applicants,
whom I could hear impatiently pacing the floor of
the hall and waiting-room. At one o'clock, how-
ever, the doors were thrown open, and the throng
admitted and dismissed, as rapidly as possible. I
was much amused and interested, later in the day,
in a variety of characters who presented them-
selves. First was an elderly lady, plainly but
comfortably dressed, whose son was a prisoner in
Baltimore. Her story, spun out to some length,
was briefly this : Her son had been serving in the
Rebel army. He heard that his sister was lying
dead at home, and his mother at the supposed
point of death. He determined to see them, and
succeeded in getting through our lines undiscov-
ered. He found his mother better. Before he got
ready o return, he became very ill himself. She
aaid she hid him in the house until he recovered,
and on his way back to his regiment he was cap-
tured. He was now anxious to take the oath,
and his mother assured the President that he
should henceforth " have nothing to do with the
Rebels." Mr. Lincoln sat quietly through the story,

£0 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

his face in half shadow. As she finished he said,
with some impatience, — "Now this is a pretty story
to come to me with, is n't it ? Your son came
home from fighting against his country ; he was
sick ; you secreted him, nursed him up, and when
cured, started him oif again to help destroy some
more of our boys. Taken prisoner, trying to get
through our lines, you now want me to let him off
upon his oath." " Yes," said the woman, not in
the least disconcerted, " and I give you my word,
Mr. President, he shall never have anything more
to do with the Rebels — never — I was always
opposed to his joining them." " Your word," re-
joined Mr. Lincoln dryly, " what do I know about
your word ? " He finally took the application, and
writing something upon the ' back of it, returned it
to her with the words, " Now, I want you to un-
derstand that I have done this just to get rid of
you ! " " Oh," said she, " Mr. President, 1 have
always heard that you were such a kind-hearted
man, and now I know it is true." And so, with
much apparent satisfaction, she withdrew.

The party that followed consisted of a lady and
two gentlemen. She had come to ask that her
husband, who was also a prisoner of war, might
be permitted to take the oath and be released from
confinement. To secure a degree of interest on
the part of the President, one of the gentlemen
claimed to be an acquaintance of Mrs. Lincoln ;
this, however, received but little attention^ an 1 the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 41

President proceeded to ask what position the lady's
husband held in the Rebel service. " Oh," said
she, " he was a captain." "A captain/" rejoined
Mr. Lincoln, "indeed ! — rather too big a fish to set
free simply upon his taking the oath. If he was
an officer, it is proof positive that he has been a
zealous rebel ; I cannot release him." Here the
lady's friend reiterated the assertion of his acquaint-
ance with Mrs. Lincoln. Instantly the President's
hand was upon the bell-rope. The usher in attend-
ance answered the summons. " Cornelius, take
this man's name to Mrs. Lincoln, and ask her what
she knows of him." The boy presently returned,
with the reply that " the Madam " (as she was
called by the servants) knew nothing of him what-
ever. The man said it was very strange. " Well,
it is just as I suspected," said the President. The
party made one more attempt to enlist his sym-
pathy, but without effect. " It is of no use," was
the reply ; " I cannot release him ; " and the trio
withdrew, the lady in high displeasure.

Next came a Methodist minister by the name of
" G.," claiming to be the son of the inventor of
iron-clad gunboats. He had understood that the
President appointed the hospital chaplains, and he
greatly desired such a place. Mr. Lincoln re-
plied rather curtly, that he could do nothing for
him. " But I was told, sir, that these appointments
were made by the President," said the gentleman,
very respectfully. " I will just tell you how that

42 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

is," was the answer ; " when there are vacancies 1
appoint, not without." The clergyman here alluded
to his having left with the private secretary a war-
sermon which he had lately preached. Stepping
out, he returned with the pamphlet, saying, as he
handed it to the President, UI suppose, sir, you
have little time to read anything of this kind; but I
shall be very glad to leave it with you." Upon
this he bowed himself out, and the sermon was
carelessly tossed aside, never to be thought of again
by Mr. Lincoln.

Subsequently the sermon fell into my hands. The
only thing I remember about it was the practi-
cal application of a professional incident. The
clergyman one day fell in with two soldiers fighting.
One had the other down, and was severely hand-
ling him. Rebuking the men, the one underneath
responded very heartily, " Plase your riverince, I
am willing to give up this minute, solely out of
respect for your riverince" And so the preacher
thought the South should be made to say " in re-
gard to the Constitution."

XIV.

The examples given of the observations of two
days, are fair illustrations of the usual White
House routine, varied of course by official or dip-
lomatic business, and a greater or less pressure of
visitors, some of whom would linger in the anteroom

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 43

day after day, waiting admission. The incidents of
no two days could of course be alike. I shall never
cease to regret that an additional private secretary
could not have been appointed, whose exclusive
duty it should have been to look after and keep a
record of all cases appealing to executive clemency.
It would have afforded full employment for one
man, at least ; and such a volume would now be
beyond all price.

Just before leaving for Washington, I met a
brother artist, who, upon learning of my proposed
purpose, laid before me the details of an interest-
ing case, concerning his only son, begging me tc
bring the circumstances to the President's knowl-
edge. When the war broke out the young man
in question was living at the South. Eventually
driven into the Rebel service, he was improving his
first opportunity to go over to the Union lines,
when he was taken prisoner. His story was disbe-
lieved, and he had been in prison for more than a
year at Alton, Illinois. His father had spent many
months in the endeavor to have him released, with-
out success. So many formalities and technicalities}
were in the way that he became completely dis-
couraged, and appealed to me as his last hope.
The boy was very ill, and he feared if not speedily
released, would soon die. Promising the father
that I would bear the case in mind, I improved an
opportunity, as soon as I felt sure of having found
favor with the President, to speak to him about it.

44 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

I believe it was on the private staircase, that, meet*
incr him one evening;, I ventured to introduce the
subject. I assured him of the entire good faith
and loyalty of both father and son. Of course ho
had never heard of the case before. Considering
the subject a moment, he said, " Come up-stairs
by-and-by, and I guess we can fix it up."

An hour later I entered his room, and gave him
very briefly the particulars of the case ; reading
one or two letters from the young man to his
father. " That will do," said the President, put-
ting on his spectacles, and taking the letter out of
my hand, he turned it over and wrote on the back
of it, "Release this man upon his taking the oath.
A. Lincoln." "There," said he, "you can take
that over to the War Department yourself, if you
choose. You will find it all right."

XV.

Wednesday night, February 10th, was an excit-
ing one at the White House, the stables belonging
to the mansion being burned to the ground. The
loss most severely felt was of the two ponies, one
of which had belonged to Willie Lincoln, the
President's second son, who died in 1862, and
the other to Tad, the youngest, and pet of his
father, who in his infancy nicknamed him Tad-
pole, subsequently abbreviated to Taddie, and
then Tad. His real name is Thomas, named

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 45

for the father of Mr. Lincoln. Upon "Tad's"
learning of the loss, he threw himself at full length
upon the floor, and could not be comforted. The
only allusion I ever heard the President make to
Willie was on this occasion, in connection with
the loss of his pony. John Hay, the assistant pri-
vate secretary, told me that he was rarely known
to speak of his lost son.

The morning following the fire, Robert Lincoln
came into his father's office, and said he had a point
of law which he wished to submit. It appeared
that one of the coachmen had two or three hundred
dollars in greenbacks in his room over the sta-
bles, which were consumed. Robert said that he
and John Hay had been having an argument as to
the liability of the government for its notes, where
it could be shown that they had been burned, or
otherwise destroyed. The President turned the
matter over in his mind for a moment, and said,
" The payment of a note presupposes its presenta-
tion to the maker of it. It is the sign or symbol
of value received ; it is not value itself, that is
clear. At the same time the production of the note
Beems a necessary warrant for the demand ; and
while the moral obligation is as strong without this,
governments and banking institutions do not recog-
nize any principle beyond the strictly legal. It is
an established rule that the citizen cannot sue
the government ; therefore, I don't see but that
it is a dead loss for Jehu."

46 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

About this time a couple of Kentucky gentlemen
called. As tliey rose to take leave, one of them,
who may have noticed little Tad, — as he usu-
ally spent much time in his father's office, — said to
the President : " General Crittenden told me an
interesting incident about his oon, eight or nine
years old, a few days since. A day or two after
the battle of Chickamauga, the little fellow came
into camp. The General rode during the battle a
horse which went by the name of John Jay, a
^reat favorite with his son. Manifesting his de-
light upon again seeing his father, bv covering him
with caresses, the child at length said, 4 Papa, where
is John Jay ? ' ' Oh,' said his father, ' your
horse behaved very badly during the fight ; he
insisted, very cowardly, upon taking me to the
rear.' The little fellow's eyes sparkled. * Papa,'
said he, ' I know John Jay would never have
'one that of his own will. It must have been your
work.' "

Montgomery Blair told me that when the con-
vention which nominated Mr. Lincoln met at Chi-
cago, there was a hideous painting in the hall which
was brought forward subsequently as a likeness of
the nominee. Most of the delegates having never
seen the original, the effect upon them was indescrib-
able. I replied to Mr. Blair that my friend Brady,
the photographer, insisted that his photograph of
Mr. Lincoln, taken the morning of th? day he
made his Cooper Irstitute speech in New York, —

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 47

much the best portrait, by the way, in circulation
of him during the campaign, — was the means of
his election. That it helped largely to this end
I do not doubt. The effect of such influences,
though silent, is powerful. Fremont once said to
me, that the villanous wood-cut published by the
2\Tew York " Tribune," the next day after his nomi-
nation, lost him twenty-five votes in one township,
to his certain knowledge.

On one of the last days of February, I called,

with my friend W , of New York, upon Mr.

Lovejoy, who was supposed to be convalescent.
He thought himself nearly well again, and was in
fine spirits. Indications of an organized movement
to bring forward Fremont, as an opposition candi-
date to Mr. Lincoln, had recently appeared. Mr.
Lovejoy was very severe upon it ; he said, " Any
attempt to divide the party at such a time was
criminal in the last degree." I remember observ-
ing that many of the extreme anti-slavery men ap-
peared to distrust the President. This drew out
his indignant condemnation. u I tell you," said he,
" Mr. Lincoln is at heart as strong an anti-slavery
man as any of them, but he is compelled to feel
his way. He has a responsibility in this matter
which many men do not seem to be able to com-
orehend. I say to you frankly, that I believe his
course to be right. His mind acts slowly, but when
he moves, it is forward. You will never find him
receding from a position once taken. It is of no

48 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

use talking, or getting up conventions against him.
He is going to be the candidate of the Baltimore
Convention, and is sure to be reelected. ' It was
foreordained from the foundation of the world.'
I have no sympathy or patience with those who
are trying to manufacture issues against him ; but
they will not succeed ; he is too strong with the
masses. For my part," he concluded, " I am not
only willing to take Mr. Lincoln for another term,
but the same cabinet, right straight through."

XVL

Wednesday, March 2d, I had an unusually
long and interesting sitting from the President.
I invited Mr. Samuel Sinclair, of New York,
who was in Washington, to be present. The news
had recently been received of the disaster under
General Seymour in Florida. Many newspapers
openly charged the President with having sent the
expedition with primary reference to restoring the
State in season to secure its vote at the forthcom-
ing Baltimore Convention. Mr. Lincoln was deeply
wounded by these charges. He referred to them
during the sitting ; and gave a simple and truthful
statement of the affair, which was planned, if I re-
member rightly, by General Gillmore. A few days
afterward, an editorial appeared in the New York
" Tribune," which was known not to favor Mr. Lin-
coln's renomination, entirely exonerating him from

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 49

all blame. I took the article to him in his study,
and he expressed much gratification at its candor.
It was, perhaps, in connection with the newspaper
attacks, that he told, during the sitting, this story.
— "A traveller on the frontier found himself out of
his reckoning one night in a most inhospitable re-
gion. A terrific thunder-storm came up, to add to
his trouble. He floundered along until his horse at
length gave out. The lightning afforded him the
only clew to his way, but the peals of thunder were
frightful. One bolt, which seemed to crash the
earth beneath him, brought him to his knees. By
no means a praying man, his petition was short
and to the point, — " O Lord, if it is all the same
to you, give us a little more light and a little less
noise ! "

Presently the conversation turned upon Shak-
speare, of whom it is well known Mr. Lincoln
was very fond. He once remarked, " It matters
not to me whether Shakspeare be well or ill acted ;
with him the thought suffices." Edwin Booth was
playing an engagement at this time at Grover's
Theatre. He had been announced for the coming
evening in his famous part of Hamlet. The
President had never witnessed his representation of
this character, and he proposed being present. The
nentbn of this play, which I afterward learned
had at all times a peculiar charm for Mr. Lincoln's
mind, waked up a train of thought I was not pre-
pared for. Said he, — and his words have often

*

50 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

returned to me with a sad interest since his own
assassination, — " There is one passage of the play
of "Hamlet" which is very apt to be slurred over by
the actor, or omitted altogether, which seems to me
the choicest part of the play. It is the soliloquy
of the king, after the murder. It always struck
me as one of the finest touches of nature in the
world."

Then, throwing himself into the very spirit of
the scene, he took up the words : —

" O my offence is rank, it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't,
A brother's murder ! — Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence ;
And what's in prayer but this twofold force —
To be forestalled ere Ave come to fall,
Or pardoned, being down ? Then I '11 look up;
My fault is past. But O what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder? «=
That cannot be; since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder, —
My crown, my own ambition, and my queen.

May one be pardoned and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 't is seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law; but 't is not so above.
There is no shuffling; there the action lies
In its true nature; and we ourselves compelled,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 51

Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can; what can it not?
Yet what can it when one cannot repent?

O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
0 bruised soul that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels, make assay!
Bow, stubborn knees! And heart with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe;
All may be well ! "

He repeated this entire passage from memory,
with a feeling and appreciation unsurpassed by any-
thing I ever witnessed upon the stage. Remaining
in thought for a few moments, he continued : —

'* The opening of the play of ' King Richard the
Third' seems to me often entirely misapprehended.
It is quite common for an actor to come upon the
stage, and, in a sophomoric style, to begin with a
flourish : —

" 'Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York,
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house,
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried ! '

Now," said he, " this is all wrong. Richard, you
remember, had been, and was then, plotting the
destruction of his brothers, to make room for him-
self. Outwardly, the most loyal to the newly
crowned king, secretly he could scarcely contain
his impatience at the obstacles still in the way
of his own elevation. He appears upon the stager
just after the crowning of Edward, burning with
repressed hate and jealousy. The prologue is the
utterance of the most intense bitterness and satire."

52 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Then, unconsciously assuming the character, Mr
Lincoln repeated, also from memory, Richard's
soliloquy, rendering it with a degree of force and
power that made it seem like a new creation to me.
Though familiar with the passage from boyhood, I
can truly say that never till that moment had I
fully appreciated its spirit. I could not refrain
from laying down my palette and brushes, and ap-
plauding heartily, upon his conclusion, saying, at
the same time, half in earnest, that I was not
sure but that he had made a mistake in the choice
^f a profession, considerably, as may be imagined,
to his amusement. Mr. Sinclair has since repeat-
edly said to me that he never heard these choice
passages of Shakspeare rendered with more effect
by the most famous of modern actors.

Mr. Lincoln's memory was very remarkable.
With the multitude of visitors whom he saw daily,
I was often amazed at the readiness with which he
recalled faces and events and even names. At
one of the afternoon receptions, a stranger
shook hands with him, and, as he did so, re-
marked, casually, that he was elected to Congress
about the time Mr. Lincoln's term as represent >
tive expired. " Yes," said the President, " you
are from ," mentioning the State. "I remem-
ber reading of your election in a newspaper one
morning on a steamboat going down to Mount Ver-
non." At another time a gentleman addressed him,
saying, u I presume, Mr. President, that you have

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 5£

forgotten me ? " " No," was tlie prompt reply •
" your name is Flood. I saw you last, twelve
years ago, at ," naming the place and the oc-
casion. " I am glad to see," he continued, " that
the Flood flows on." Subsequent to his reelection
a deputation of bankers from various sections were
introduced one day by the Secretary of the Treas-
ury. After a few moments' general conversation,
Mr. Lincoln turned to one of them, and said :
" Your district did not give me so strong a vote
at the last election as it did in 1860." " I think,
sir, that you must be mistaken," replied the
banker. " I have the impression that your ma-
jority was considerably increased at the last elec-
tion." u No," rejoined the President, " you fell
off about six hundred votes." Then taking down
from the bookcase the official canvass of I860
and 1864, he referred to the vote of the district
named, and proved to be quite right in his asser-
tion.

During this interview, — related to me by one

of the party, Mr. P , of Chelsea, Mass., — a

member of the delegation referred to the severity
of the tax laid by Congress upon the State Banks.
" Now," said Mr. Lincoln, " that reminds me of a
circumstance that took place in a neighborhood
where I lived when I was a boy. In the spring oi
the year the farmers were very fond of the dish
flrhich they called greens, though the fashionable
name for it nowadays is spinach, I believe. One day

54 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

after dinner, a large family were taken very ill
The doctor was called in, who attributed it to the
greens, of which all had freely partaken. Living
in the family was a half-witted boy named Jake.
On a subsequent occasion, when greens had
been gathered for dinner, the head of the house
said : ' Now, boys, before running any further risk
in this thing, we will first try them on Jake. If he
stands it, we are all right.' And just so, I sup-
pose," said Mr. Lincoln, " Congress thought of
the State Banks!"

XVII.

While sitting one day, Secretary Stanton —
whom I usually found quite taciturn — referred
to the meeting of the Buchanan Cabinet called
upon receipt of the news that Colonel Anderson had
evacuated Moultrie, and gone into Fort Sumter.
" This little incident," said Stanton, " was the
crisis of our history, — the pivot upon which every-
thing turned. Had he remained in Fort Moultrie,
a very different combination of circumstances would
have arisen. The attack on Sumter — commenced
by the South — united the North, and made the
success of the Confederacy impossible. I shall
never forget," he continued, "our coming together
by special summons that night. Buchanan sat in
his arm-chair in a corner of the room, white as a
sheet, with the stump of a cigar in his mouth. The

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 55

despatches were laid before ns ; and so much vio-
lence ensued, that he had to turn us all out-of-
doors."

The day following, by special permission of Mr.
Lincoln, I was present at the regular Cabinet meet-
ing. Judge Bates came in first, and, taking a
package out of his pocket, said, " You may not be
aware, Mr. President, that you have a formidable
rival in the field. I received this through the mail
to-day." He unfolded an immense placard, on
which was printed in large* letters, — "I introduce
for President of the United States, Mr. T. W. Smith
[I think this was the name], of Philadelphia."
The bill then went on to enumerate the qualifications
of the candidate, which were of a stunning order ;
and the whole was signed " George Bates," which
the Attorney-General said might be a relative of
his, for aught he knew. This decidedly original
document was pinned up in a conspicuous place in
the council-chamber, where it hung for several
days, of course attracting the attention of all vis-
itors, and creating much amusement.

The disaster on the Red River was the subject
of official consultation. The positions of the re-
spective forces were traced on the war maps, and
various suggestions and opinions offered. The Sec-
retary of the Interior, looking over to where the
Secretary of War sat, said he had a young friend
whom he wished to have appointed a paymaster
in the army " How old is he ? " asked Stanton,

56 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

gruffly. "About twenty-one, I believe," answered
the Secretary of the Interior ; "he is of good fam-
ily and excellent character." " Usher," was the
reply, " I would not appoint the Angel Gabriel a
paymaster, if he was only twenty-one."

Judge Bates, who was to have a sitting after the
adjournment, here beckoned to me, signifying that
he wras ready for the appointment. And so ended
my brief glimpse of a cabinet in session.

£VIII.

General Grant reached Washington, after his
nomination to the Lieutenant-Generalship, the even-
ing of March 8th, 18G4. His reception at Wil-
lard's Hotel, unaccompanied by staff or escort, was
an event never to be forgotten by those who wit-
nessed it. Later in the evening he attended the
Presidential levee, entering the reception-room
unannounced. He was recognized and welcomed by
the President with the utmost cordiality, and the
distinguished stranger was soon nearly over-
whelmed by the pressure of the crowd upon him.
Secretary Seward at length mounting a sofa, pulled
the modest hero up by his side, where he stood for
some time, bowing his acknowledgments to the tu-
multuous assemblage. He subsequently remarked
that this was " his warmest campaign during the
war."

The next day at one o'clock he was formally

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 57

presented by the President with his commission as
Lieutenant-General. The ceremony took place in
the presence of the Cabinet, the Hon. Mr. Love-
joy, and several officers of the army, and was very
brief and simple, as became the character of each
of the illustrious chief actors.

On the day following General Grant visited the
Army of the Potomac, and upon his return to
Washington he made preparations to leave imme-
diately for the West. At the close of a consulta-
tion with the President and Secretary of War, he
was informed that Mrs. Lincoln expected his pres-
ence the same evening at a military dinner she
proposed to give in his honor. The General at
once responded that it would be impossible for him
to remain over, — he " must be in Tennessee at a
given time." u But we can't excuse you," re-
turned the President. " It would be the play
of 4 Hamlet ' with Hamlet left out, over again.
Twelve distinguished officers, now in the city, have
been invited to meet you." " I appreciate fully
the honor Mrs. Lincoln would do me," replied the
General, hesitatingly, knocking the ashes off the
end of his cigar; "but — time js very precious
just now — and — really, Mr. President, I be-
lieve I have had enough of the 4 show ' business ! "

The dinner was given ; the twelve officers
did full justice to it ; but it is needless to add,
the Lieutenant-General was not one of the num-
ber.

58 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

XIX.

The evening of March 25th was an intensely
interesting one to me. It was passed with the
President alone in his study, marked by no inter-
ruptions. Busy with pen and papers when I en-
tered, he presently threw them aside, and com-
menced talking again about Shakspeare. Little
Tad coming in, he sent him to the library for
a copy of the plays, from which he read aloud sev-
eral of his favorite passages. Relapsing into a
sadder strain, he laid the book aside, and leaning
back in his chair, said, " There is a poem that
has been a great favorite with me for years, to
which my attention was first called when a young
man, by a friend, and which I afterward saw and
cut from a newspaper, and carried in my pocket,
till by frequent reading I had it by heart. I would
give a great deal," he added, " to know who wrote
it, but I never could ascertain." Then, half clos-
ing his eyes, he repeated the poem, " Oh ! why
should the spirit of mortal be proud ? " Surprised
and delighted, I told him that I should greatly
prize a copy of the lines. He replied that he had
recently written them out for Mrs. Stanton, but
promised that when a favorable opportunity oc-
curred he would give them to me.

Varying the subject, he continued : " There are
some quaint, queer verses, written, I think, by
Oliver Wendell Holmes, entitled, ' The Last Leaf,'

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 59

one of which is to me inexpressibly touching. He
then repeated these also from memory. The verse
he referred to occurs in about the middle of the
poem, and is this : —

" The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has pressed

In their bloom;
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year

On the tomb-"

As he finished this verse, he said, in his emphatic
way, " For pure pathos, in my judgment, there is
nothing finer than those six lines in the English
language ! "

A day or two afterward, he asked me to accom-
pany him to the temporary studio, at the Treasury
Department, of Mr. Swayne, the sculptor, who was
making; a bust of him. While he was sitting, it
occurred to me to improve the opportunity to secure
the promised poem. Upon mentioning the subject,
the sculptor surprised me by saying that he had at his
home, in Philadelphia, a printed copy of the verses,
taken from a newspaper some years previous. The
President inquired if they were published in any
connection with his name. Mr. Swayne said that
they purported to have been written " by Abraham
Lincoln." " I have heard of that before, and that
is why I asked," returned the President. " But
there is no truth in it. The poem was first shown
x> me by a young man named 4 Jason Duncan,'
many years ago."

60 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

The sculptor was using for a studio the of-
fice of the Solicitor of the Treasury Department,
an irregular room, packed nearly full of law books.
Seating myself, I believe, upon a pile of these at Mr.
Lincoln's feet, he kindly repeated the lines, which I
wrote down, one by one, as they fell from his lips : —

OH! WHY SHOULD THE SPIRIT OF MORTAL BE
PROUD?*

Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.

The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around, and together be laid;
And the young and the old, and the low and the high,
Shall moulder to dust, and together shall lie.

The infant a mother attended and loved;
The mother that infant's affection who proved;
The husband, that mother and infant who blest, —
Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest.

[The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
Shone beauty and pleasure, — her triumphs are by;
And the memory of those who loved her and praised,
Are alike from the minds of the living erased.]

The hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne,
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn,
The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave,
Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.

* The authorship of this poem has been made known since this
publication in the Evening Post. It was written by William Knox,
a young Scotchman, a contemporary of Sir Walter Scott. He died
in Edinburgh, in 1825, at the age of 36.

The two verses in brackets were not repeated by Mr. Lincoln,
but belong to the original poem.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. (ft

The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap,
The herdsman, who climhed with his goats up the steep,
The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread.

[The saint, who enjoyed the communion of Heaven,
The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven,
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.]

So the multitude goes — like the flower or the weed
That withers away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes — even those we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.

For we are the same our fathers have been;
We see the same sights our fathers have seen;
We drink the same stream, we view the same sun,
And run the same course our fathers have run.

The thoughts we are thinking, our fathers would think;
From the death we are shrinking, our fathers would shrink ;
To the life we are clinging, they also would cling; —
But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing.

They loved — but the story we cannot unfold;
They scorned — but the heart of the haughty is cold;
They grieved — but no wail from their slumber will come;
They joyed — but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.

They died — ay, they died; — we things that are now,
That walk on the turf that lies over their brow,
And make in their dwellings a transient abode,
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.

Yea! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;
And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.

'T is the wink of an eye — 't is the draught of a breath -—
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud: —
Oh ! why should the spirit of mortal be proud ?

02 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

XX.

On the way to the sculptor's studio a conversa-
tion occurred of much significance, in view of the
terrible tragedy so soon to paralyze every loyal
heart in the nation. A late number of the New
York "Tribune" had contained an account from a
correspondent within the Rebel lines, of an elabo-
rate conspiracy, matured in Richmond, to abduct,
or assassinate — if the first was not found practi-
cable — the person of the President. A secret or-
ganization, composed, it was stated, of five hun-
dred or a thousand men, had solemnly sworn to
accomplish the deed. Mr. Lincoln had not seen
or heard of this account, and at his request, I gave
him the details. Upon the conclusion, he smiled
incredulously, and . said : " Well, even if true, I do
not S3e what the Rebels would gain by killing or
getting possession of me. I am but a single indi-
vidual, and it would not help their cause or make
the least difference in the progress of the war.
Everything would go right on just the same. Soon
after I was nominated at Chicago, I began to re-
ceive letters threatening my life. The first one or
two made me a little uncomfortable, but I came at
length to look for a regular instalment of this kind
of correspondence in every week's mail, and up to
inauguration day I was in constant receipt of such
letters. It is no uncommon thing: to receive them
nDw ; but they have ceased to give me any appre-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 63

hension." I expressed some surprise at this, but
he replied in his peculiar way, " Oh, there is
nothing like getting used to things ! "

In connection with tins, Mr. Noah Brooks, — who
was to have been Mr. Nicolay's successor as private
secretary to the President, — and Colonel Charles
G. Halpine, of New York, have referred to personal
conversations of exceeding interest, which I tran-
scribe.

In an article contributed to " Harper's Maga-
zine," soon after the assassination, Mr. Brooks
says : —

u The simple habits of Mr. Lincoln were so well
known that it is a subject for surprise that watchful
and malignant treason did not sooner take that
precious life which he seemed to hold so lightly.
He had an almost morbid dislike for an escort, or
guide, and daily exposed himself to the deadly aim
of an assassin. One summer morning, passing by
the White House at an early hour, I saw the Pres-
ident standing at the gateway, looking anxiously
down the street ; and, in reply to a salutation, he
said, ' Good morning, good morning ! I am look-
ing for a newsboy ; when you get to that corner,
I wish you would start one up this way.' In reply
to the remonstrances of friends, who were afraid of
his constant exposure to danger, he had but. one
answer : ' If they kill me, the next man will be
just as bad for them ; and in a country like this,
where our habits are simple, and must be, assassi-

64 SIX MONTHS Al THE WHITE HOUSE.

nation is always possible, and will come, if they are
determined upon it.' "

A cavalry guard was once placed at the gates
of the White House for a while, and he said, pri-
vately, that " he worried until he got rid of it."
While the President's family were at their sum-
mer-house, near Washington, he rode into town
of a morning, or out at night, attended by a
mounted escort ; but if he returned to town for a
while after dark, he rode in unguarded, and often
alone, in his open carriage. On more than one
occasion the writer has gone through the streets of
Washington at a late hour of the night wTith the
President, without escort, or even the company of
a servant, walking all of the way, going and re-
turning.

Considering the many open and secret threats
to take his life, it is not surprising that Mr. Lin-
coln had many thoughts about his coming to a
sudden and violent end. He once said that he felt
the force of the expression, " To take one's life in
his hand ; " but that he would not like to face death
suddenly. He said that he thought himself a great
coward physically, and was sure that he would
make a poor soldier, for, unless there was something
inspiriting in the excitement of a battle, he was
sure- that he would drop his gun and run, at the
first symptom of danger. That was said sportively,
and he added, " Moral cowardice is something
which I think I never had."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 65

Colonel Halpine, while serving as a member of
General Halleck's staff, had frequently to wait upon
the President, both during official hours and at
other times. On one of these occasions, Mr. Lin-
coln concluded some interesting remarks with these
words : " It would never do for a President to
have guards with drawn sabres at his door, as if
he fancied he were, or were trying to be, or were
assuming to be, an emperor."

" This expression," writes Colonel Halpine,
"called my attention afresh to what I had remarked
to myself almost every time I entered the White
House, and to which I had very frequently called the
attention both of Major Hay and General Halleck —
the utterly unprotected condition of the President's
person, and the fact that any assassin or maniac,
seeking his life, could enter his presence without
the interference of a single armed man to hold him
back. The entrance-doors, and all doors on the
official side of the building, were open at all hours
of the day, and very late into the evening ; and I
have many times entered the mansion, and walked
up to the rooms of the two private secretaries, as
late as nine or ten o'clock at night, without seeing
or being challenged by a single soul. There were,
indeed, two attendants, — one for the outer door,
and the other for the door of the official eham-
oers ; but these — thinking, I suppose, that none
would call after office hours save persons who were
personally acquainted, or had the right of official en-

66 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

try — were, not unfrequentl y, somewhat remiss in
their duties.

" To this fact I now ventured to call the Presi-
dent's attention, saying that to me — perhaps from
my European education — it appeared a deliberate
courting of danger, even if the country were in a
state of the profoundest peace, for the person at the
head of the nation to remain so unprotected.

" ' There are two dangers,' I wound up by say-
ing ; 4 the danger of deliberate political assassina-
tion, and the mere brute violence of insanity.'

" Mr. Lincoln heard me through with a smile,
his hands locked across his knees, his body rock-
ing back and forth, — the common indication that
he was amused.

" ' Now, as to political assassination,' he said,
1 do you think the Richmond people would like to
have Hannibal Hamlin here any better than my-
self? In that one alternative, I have an insurance
on my life worth half the prairie land of Illinois.
And beside,' — this more gravely, — ' if there were
such a plot, and they wanted to get at me, no vigi-
lance could keep them out. We are so mixed up
in our affairs, that — no matter what the system
established -*- a conspiracy to assassinate, if such
there w^ere, could easily obtain a pass to see me for
any one or more of its instruments.

" ' To betray fear of this, by placing guards or
so forth, would only be to put the idea into theii
heads, and perhaps lead to the very result it was

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 67

Intended to prevent. As to the crazy folks, Major,
why I must only take my chances, — the worst
crazy people at present, I fear, being some of my
own too zealous adherents. That there may be such
dangers as you and many others have suggested to
me, is quite possible ; but I guess it would n't im-
prove things any to publish that we were afraid of
them in advance.'

" Upon another occasion I remember his coming
over one evening after dinner, to General Halleck's
private quarters, to protest — half jocularly, half in
earnest — against a small detachment of cavalry
which had been detailed without his request, and
partly against his will, by the lamented General
Wadsworth, as a guard for his carriage in going to
and returning from the Soldiers' Home. The bur-
den of his complaint was that he and Mrs. Lincoln
4 could n't hear themselves talk,' for the clatter of
their sabres and spurs ; and that, as many of them
appeared new hands and very awkwrard, he was
more afraid of being shot by the accidental dis-
charge of one of their carbines or revolvers, than
of any attempt upon his life or for his capture by
the roving squads of Jeb Stuart's cavalry, then
hovering all round the exterior works of the citv."

XXI.

Judge Bates, the Attorney-General, was one day
rery severe upon the modern 'deal school of

68 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

art, as applied to historic characters and events.
He instanced in sculpture, Greenough's " Wash-
ington, " in the Capitol grounds, which, he said, was
a very good illustration of the heathen idea of Ju-
piter Tonans, but was the farthest possible remove
from any American's conception of the Father of
his Country. Powell's painting in the Rotunda,
" De Soto discovering the Mississippi," and Mills's
equestrian statue of Jackson, in front of the Presi-
dent's House, shared in his sarcastic condemnation.'
He quoted from an old English poet — Creech, I
think he said — with much unction: —

" Whatever contradicts my sense
1 hate to see, and can but disbelieve."

" Genius and talent," said he, on another occa-
sion, " are rarely found combined in one individ-
ual." I requested his definition of the distinction.
u Genius," he replied, " conceives ; talent exe-
cutes."

Referring to Mr. Lincoln's never-failing fund
of anecdote, he remarked, " The character of the
President's mind is such that his thought habitually
takes on this form of illustration, by which the
point he wishes to enforce is invariably brought
home with a strength and clearness impossible in
hours of abstract argument. Mr. Lincoln," he
added, " comes very near being a perfect man,
according to my ideal of manhood. He lacks but
one thing." Looking up from my palette, I askedv

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 69

musingly, if this was official dignity as President
'4 No," replied Judge Bates, " that is of little con-
Bequence. His deficiency is in the element of will.
I have sometimes told him, for instance, that he was
unfit to be intrusted with the pardoning power.
Why, if a man comes to him with a touching story,
his judgment is almost certain to be affected by it.
Should the applicant be a woman, a wife, a mother,
or a sister, — in nine cases out of ten, her tears, if
nothing else, are sure to prevail."

XXII.

Mr. Seward, whose conversation much of tht
time, while sitting, was like that of a man solil-
oquizing aloud, told me on one occasion two or
three good stories. Referring to the numerous
portraits painted of him at different times, he said,
that of all artists whom he had known, Henry In-
man was most rapid in execution. For the full-
length portrait, painted while he was Governor,
for the city of New York, Inman required but two
or three sittings of an hour each, with an addi-
tional quarter of an hour for the standing figure.
This drew out something from me in relation to
Elliott's wThole length of him, painted at the
*ame period. u My experience with Elliott," he
rejoined, " who was then in the beginning of his
career, was a very different affair. He seemed to
think me like Governor Crittenden's hen." Laugh-

70 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

ing at the recollection, he lighted a cigar, and con-
tinued : " One day the Governor was engaged with
his Council, when his little boy, of five or six years,
came into the chamber, and said, ( Father, the
black hen is setting? 4 Go away, my son,' re
turned the Governor; ' I am very busy.' The child
disappeared, but soon returned, and putting his head
ill at the door, repeated the information. 4 Well,
well,* replied the Governor, 'you must not bother
me now ; let her set? The door was shut,
but soon afterward again cautiously opened, in the
midst of a profound discussion, and the words
rang out, l But father, she is setting on one
eo-Sf ! ' The Governor turned around, and looking
into the dilated eyes of the excited little fellow, re-
plied dryly, 4 Well, my son, I think we will let her
set. Her time is not very precious ! ' "

Another was of General R , formerly of the

New York State Senate. At the regular session
one day, the General gave notice that the following
day he would introduce a bill providing a ther-
mometer for every institution of learning in the
State. The next morning the clerk was in his
private office at the usual hour, reading the bills
aloud, and placing them on file for the business of
the day. A gentleman who prided himself upon
his classical attainments was present, and, as the

clerk read the notice given by Senator R , he

was informed that a word borrowed from another
language should, according to the rule, always be

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 71

given its native pronunciation. The original of
thermometer, the gentleman said, was a French
term, which should be pronounced accordingly. By
a process of reasoning the clerk was convinced ;
and when the bill was announced, he read it accord-
ing to instructions. General R was observed

to look up from writing, and fix his eye upon the
clerk. The second reading passed, and he rose to
his feet, bending forward upon his desk, listen-
ing intently, his eyebrows gradually contracting.

" Third reading. Senator R gave notice of a

bill to provide a thermometre for every institution
of learning in the State." By this time the atten-
tion of the entire house was drawn to the General.
" Ther — what?" he demanded, in a stentorian
tone. " Thermometre" quietly responded the con-
fident clerk. " Thermometer ! thermometer ! you

fool ; don't you know what a thermometer

is ? " thundered the enraged Senator, amid roars of
laughter.

Speaking once of Henry Clay and Daniel Web-
ster, Mr. Seward remarked, that, as statesmen,
they could not well be compared ; " they were no
more alike than a Grecian temple and a Gothic
church."

I was much interested in an opinion he once ex-
pressed of equestrian statues. He said a grand
character should never be represented in this form.
It was ignoring the divine in human nature to thus
link man with an. animal, and seemed to him a

72 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

degradation of true art. " Bucephalus," in marble
or bronze was well enough by itself. Place "Alex-
ander" upon his back, and though the animal gained
a degree of interest, the man lost immeasurably.

XXIII.

Soon after the chalk sketch of my conception had
been placed upon the canvas, I attended one of the
receptions given by the Secretary of the Navy
and Mrs. Welles. While standing as I thought
unobserved, near a corner of the room, Mr. Sew-
ard approached me, and in a manner of more than
usual warmth, said, " I told the President the
other day that you were painting your picture upon
a false presumption." Looking at him in some sur-
prise, I inquired his meaning. " Oh," he rejoined,
" you appear to think in common with many other
foolish people, that the great business of this Ad-
ministration is the destruction of slavery. Now
allow me to say you are much mistaken. Slavery
was killed years ago. Its death knell was tolled
when Abraham Lincoln was elected President.
The work of this Administration is the suppression
of the Rebellion and the preservation of the Union.
Abolitionists, like the different religious sects, have
been chasing one idea, until they have come to be-
lieve that their horizon absolutely bounds the world.
Slavery has been in fact but an incident in the
history of the nation, inevitably bound to perish in

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 73

the progress of intelligence. Future generations
will scarcely credit the record that such an insti-
tution ever existed here ; or existing, that it ever
lived a day under such a government. But sup-
pose, for one moment, the Republic destroyed.
With it is bound up not alone the destiny of a race,
but the best hopes of all mankind. With its over-
throw the sun of liberty, like the Hebrew dial,
would be set back indefinitely. The magni-
tude of such a calamity is beyond our calculation.
The salvation of the nation is, then, of vastly more
consequence than the destruction of slavery. Had
you consulted me for a subject to paint, I should
not have given you the Cabinet Council on Eman-
cipation, but the meeting which took place when
the news came of the attack upon Sumter, when
the first measures were organized for the restoration
of the national authority. That was the crisis in
the history of this Administration — not the issue of
the Emancipation Proclamation. If I am to be re-
membered by posterity," he concluded, with much
excitement of manner, " let it not be as having
loved predominantly white men or black men, but
as one who loved his country."

Assenting to much that he had said, I replied,
that with all deference, I could not accept his
conclusions regarding slavery. Although more
than a year had passed since the issue of the pro-
clamation, the Confederacy, founded upon it, was
yet powerful enough to threaten the destruction of

74 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the nation, though, for my own part, I did not
question the result of the conflict. I looked upon
the Declaration of Independence as the assertion
that all men were created free. Mr. Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation was the demonstration
of this great truth. Without slavery the Re-
public would have been in no danger. That was
the canker-worm gnawing away the nation's life.
Not until the Administration was ready to strike at
the root and cause of the Rebellion, was there any
reason to hope for the success of the national cause.
Without this step, however grand or high the
conception in the minds of men of the Republic,
in all probability it would have perished. There-
fore, in my judgment, no single act of the Ad-
ministration could for one moment be compared
with that of emancipation. Granting the poten-
tial view, the proclamation was necessary, as the
sign and seal of the consummation.

" Well," replied Mr. Seward, " you think so,
and this generation .may agree with you ; but pos-
terity will hold a different opinion."

Of course this conversation could not but attract
the attention of all in the immediate vicinity. A
few moments later, Senator Morgan, referring to
the Secretary's assertion that slavery was dead when
the Rebellion broke out, told me this character-
istic incident of the President, showing that he, at
least, did not hold that view. Soon after the issue
of the proclamation, having official business, as Gov-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 75

ernor of New York, which called him to Washing-
ton, Mr. Lincoln remarked to him, speaking of his
action upon this subject, " We are a good deal like
whalers who have been long on a chase. At last
we have got our harpoon fairly into the monster ;
but we must now look how we steer, or with one
flop of his tail, he will yet send us all into
eternity!"

XXIV.

Mr. George Thompson, the English anti-slavery
orator, delivered an address in the House of Rep-
resentatives, to a large audience, April 6th, 1864.
Among the distinguished persons present was Pres-
ident Lincoln, who was greatly interested. The
following morning, Mr. Thompson and party, con-
sisting of Rev. John Pierpont, Oliver Johnson,
formerly President of the Anti-Slavery Society of
New York, and the Hon. Lewis Clephane, of Wash-
ington, called at the White House. The President
was alone when their names were announced, with
the exception of myself. Dropping all business,
he ordered the party to be immediately admitted.
Greeting them very cordially, the gentlemen took
seats, and Mr. Thompson commenced conversation
by referring to the condition of public sentiment in
England in regard to the great conflict the nation
was passing through. He said the aristocracy and
the " money interest " were desirous of seeing the
Union broken up, but that the great heart of the

76 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

masses beat in sympathy with the North. They
instinctively felt that the cause of liberty was bound
up with our success in putting down the Rebellion,
and the struggle was being watched with the deep-
est anxiety.

Mr. Lincoln thereupon said : " Mr. Thompson,
the people of Great Britain, and of other foreign
governments, were in one great error in reference
to this conflict. They seemed to think that, the
moment I was President, I had the power to abol-
ish slavery, forgetting that, before I could have
any power whatever, I had to take the oath to sup-
port the Constitution of the United States, and ex-
ecute the laws as I found them. When the Rebel-
lion broke out, my duty did not admit of a question.
That was, first, by all strictly lawful means to en-
deavor to maintain the integrity of the government.
I did not consider that I had a right to touch the
4 State ' institution of ' Slavery ' until all other meas-
ures for restoring the Union had failed. The para-
mount idea of the constitution is the preservation of
the Union. It may not be specified in so many
words, but that this was the idea of its founders is
evident ; for, without the Union, the constitution
"would be worthless. It seems clear, then, that ir
tne last extremity, if any local institution threatened
the existence of the Union, the Executive could not
hesitate as to his duty. In our case, the moment
came when 1 felt that slavery must die that the
nation might live ! I have sometimes used the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 77

illustration m this connection of a man with a dis
eased limb, and his surgeon. So long as there is a
chance of the patient's restoration, the surgeon is
solemnly bound to try to save both life and limb ;
but when the crisis comes, and the limb must be
sacrificed as the only chance of saving the life, no
honest man will hesitate.

" Many of my strongest supporters urged Eman-
cipation before I thought it indispensable, and, I
may say, before I thought the country ready for it.
It is my conviction that, had the proclamation been
issued even six months earlier than it was, public
sentiment would not have sustained it. Just so,
as to the subsequent action in reference to enlist-
ing blacks in the Border States. The step, taken
sooner, could not, in my judgment, have been car-
ried out. A man watches his pear-tree day after
day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let
him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil
both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and
the ripe pear at length falls into his lap ! We have
seen this great revolution in public sentiment slowly
but surely progressing, so that, when final action
came, the opposition was not strong enough to de-
feat the purpose. I can now solemnly assert/' he
concluded, " that I have a clear conscience in regard
to my action on this momentous question. I have
done what no man could have helped doing, stand-
nig in my place."

Oliver Johnson, speaking, as he said, for the old

78 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Anti-Slavery party, assured the President that they
had fully appreciated the difficulties and embar-
rassments of his position ; but when they realized
the importance of the grand issue, and observed the
conflicting influences that were surging around him,
they were in an agony of anxiety lest he should
somehow be led to take a false position. If, in the
months preceding the issue of the Emancipation
Proclamation, they had seemed impatient and dis-
trustful, it was because their knowledge of his char-
acter had not been sufficient to assure them that he
would be able to stand up manfully against the
opposing current. He thanked God that the re-
sult had shown that we had a President who was
equal to the emergency ; and for his part he was
willing to sink all minor issues in the grand con-
summation he believed then in sight !

A characteristic incident occurred toward the
close of the interview. When the President ceased
speaking, the Rev. Mr. Pierpont, impressed with
his earnestness, turned to Mr. Thompson, and re-
peated a Latin quotation from the classics. Mr.
Lincoln, leaning forward in his chair, looked from
one to the other inquiringly, and then remarked,
with a smile, " Which, I suppose you are both
aware, I do not understand."

As the party rose to take leave, the President re-
marked, motioning toward me, " We have a young
man here who is painting a picture down-stairs,
vvhich I should be glad to have you see." The gen-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 79

tlei^eti expressed their acknowledgments of the
courtesy, and Mr. Lincoln led the way by the
private staircase to the state dining-room. In
the passage through the hall he jocularly remarked
to Mr, Thompson, " Your folks made rather sad
work of this mansion when they came up the Po»
tomcc in 1812. Nothing was left of it but the
bare walls." I do not remember the reply t- this
sally, save that it was given and received in good
part. Briefly going over the portraiture and com-
position of the picture, then in too early a stage for
criticism, Mr. Lincoln presently excused himself,
and returned to his duties. And thus ended an
interview doubtless indelibly stamped upon the
memory of each individual privileged in sharing it.
Upon referring to the date of the " Hodges " let-
ter, it will be seen that it was written April 4th, only
three days before the visit of Mr. Thompson and
party. The coincidence of thought and expression
in that statement, and the President's conversation
on this occasion, are noticeable ; and are explained by
the fact, that, with the language of that letter still
fresL in his mind, he very naturally fell into a similar
vein of illustration.

XXV.

Dr. Holland, in his " Life of Abraham Lincoln/'
I regret to observe, has thought it worth while to
notice the reports, which in one way and another
have obtained circulation, that the President habit-

80 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

ually indulged," in ordinary conversation, in a class
of objectionable stories. The biographer, it is true,
attempts to palliate this, on the ground that it was
no innate love of impurity which prompted such
relations, but a keen relish for wit, in any form,
the lack of refining influences in early life, and
his experience as a lawyer, which necessarily in-
duced professional familiarity with the foulest phases
of human nature. The fault is a common one with
many men of otherwise unblemished reputation, and
cannot be too severely reprehended. The sooner,
however, such things can be forgotten, of neighbor,
friend, or President, the better. Weaknesses and
blemishes are inseparable from common humanity
in the present stage of its development; and though,
like the spots on the sun, they may serve to inspire
in us a feeling of kindred, — let the orb once set,
never again to rise on the world, and he who should
remember the trifling defects in the universal loss
would certainly be considered, if not captious, at
least a most inopportune critic.

Mr. Lincoln, I am convinced, has been greatly
wronged in this respect. Every foul-mouthed man
in the country gave currency to the slime and filth
of his own imagination by attributing it to the
President. It is but simple justice to his memory
that I should state, that during the entire period of
n*y stay in Washington, after witnessing his inter-
course with nearly all classes of men, embracing
governors, senators, members of Congress, officers

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 81

of the army, and intimate friends, I cannot recol-
lect to have heard him relate a circumstance to any
one of them, which would have been out of place
uttered in a ladies' drawing-room. And this testi-
mony is not unsupported by that of others, well
entitled to consideration. Dr. Stone, his family
physician, came in one day to see my studies.
Sitting in front of that of the President, — with
whom he did not sympathize politically, — he re-
marked, with much feeling, "It is the province of
a physician to probe deeply the interior lives of
men ; and I a,ffirm that Mr. Lincoln is the purest
hearted man with whom I ever came in contact.''
Secretary Seward, who of the Cabinet officers was
probably most intimate with the President, ex-
pressed the same sentiment in still stronger lan-
guage. He once said to the Rev. Dr. Bellows:
" Mr. Lincoln is the best man I ever knew ! "

XXVI.

The 25th of April, Burnside's command marched
through Washington, on the way from Annapolis,
to reinforce the army of the Potomac. The Presi-
dent reviewed the troops from the top of the east-
ern portico at Willard's Hotel, standing with un-
covered head while the entire thirty thousand men
filed through Fourteenth Street. Of course the
passage of so large a body of troops through the
city — presaging as it did the opening of the cam-

32 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

paign — drew out a numerous concourse of spec
tators, and the coming movement was everywhere
the absorbing topic of conversation. Early in the
evening, Governor Curtin, of Pennsylvania, with a
friend, came into the President's office. As he sat
down he referred to the fine appearance of Burn-
side's men ; saying, with much emphasis, " Mr-
President, if there is in the world one man more
than another worthy of profound respect, it is the
volunteer citizen soldier." To this Mr. Lincoln
assented, in a quiet way, — the peculiar dreaminess
of expression so remarkable at times, stealing over
his face as his mind reverted to the thousands whose
lives had been so freely offered upon the altar of
their country, and the myriad homes represented
by the thronging columns of the day's review, in sc
many of which there was henceforth to be weary
watching and waiting for footsteps which would
return no more.

I took this opportunity to get at the truth con-
cerning a newspaper story which went the rounds
a year or two previous, purporting to be an ac-
count of a meeting of the loyal Governors in
Washington, early in the war. It was stated that
the President laid the condition of the country be-
fore such a council, convened at the White House,
and anxiously awaited the result. An oppressive
silence followed. Curtin was represented as hav-
ing been standing, looking out of one of the win-
dows, drumming unconsciously upon a pane of glass.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 83

Mr. Lincoln, at length addressing him personally,
said : "Andy, what is Pennsylvania going to do ? "
Turning around, Curtin replied : " She is going to
send twenty thousand men to start with, and wiD
double it, if necessary ! " " This noble response "
[quoted from memory] " overwhelmed the Presi-
dent, and lifted the dead weight which seemed to
have paralyzed all present."

I repeated this account substantially as here
given ; but both parties smiled and shook their
heads. " It is a pity to spoil so good a story," re-
turned the President, " but, unfortunately, there is
not a word of truth in it. I believe the only con-
vocation of Governors that has taken place during
the war," he added, looking at Curtin, " was that
at Altoona — was it not ? "

Subsequently the two gentlemen proposed to
visit my room, and Mr. Lincoln accompanied them.
Sitting down under the chandelier on the edge of
the long table, which ran the whole length of the
apartment, swinging back and forth his long legs,
passing his hand occasionally over his brow and
through his rough hair (his appearance and man-
ner come back to me most vividly, as I write),
he listened abstractedly to my brief explanation of
the design of the picture. When I ceased, he
took up the record in his own way. " You see,
Curtin," said he, " I was brought to the conclu-
sion that there was no dodging this negro question
any longer. We had reached the point where it

54 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Beemed that we must avail ourselves of this ele-
ment, or in all probability go under." He then
went over the circumstances attending the step, in
much the same language he had used upon the
occasion of my first interview with him. Gov-
ernor Curtin' remarked that the impression pre-
vailed in some quarters that Secretary Seward
opposed the policy. " That is not true," replied
Mr. Lincoln ; " he advised postponement, at the
first meeting, which seemed to me sound. It was
Seward's persistence which resulted in the insertion
of the word ' maintain,' which I feared under the
circumstances was promising more than it was quite
probable we could carry out."

The bill empowering the Secretary of the Treas-
ury to sell the surplus gold had recently passed,
and Mr. Chase was then in New York, giving his
attention personally to the experiment. Governor
Curtin referred to this, saying, " I see by the quo-
tations that Chase's movement has already knocked
gold down several per cent." This gave occasion
for the strongest expression I ever heard, fall from
the lips of Mr. Lincoln. Knotting his face in the
intensity of his feeling, he said, " Curtin, what do
you think of those fellows in Wall Street, who are
gambling in gold at such a time as this ? " " They
are a set of sharks," returned Curtin. " For my
part," continued the President, bringing his clinched
hand down upon the table, " I wish every one of
them had his devilish head shot off! "

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 85

XXVII.

There was one marked element of Mr. Lincoln's
character admirably expressed by the Hon. Mr.
Colfax, in his oration at Chicago upon his death :
" When his judgment, which acted slowly, but
which was almost as immovable as the eternal hills
when settled, was grasping some subject of im-
portance, the arguments against his own desires
seemed uppermost in his mind, and, in conversing
upon it, he would present those arguments to see
if they could be rebutted."

In illustration of this, it is only necessary to
recall the fact that the interview between himself
and the Chicago delegation of clergymen, appointed
to urge upon him the issue of a proclamation of
emancipation, took place September 13, 1862,
more than a month after he had declared to the
Cabinet his established purpose to take this step.
He said to this committee : " I do not want to issue
a document that the whole world will see must
necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull
against the comet ! " After drawing out their
views upon the subject, he concluded the interview
with these memorable words : —

" Do not misunderstand me, because I have men-
tioned these objections. They indicate the diffi-
culties which have thus far prevented my action in
some such way as you desire. I have not decided
against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but

86 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

hold the matter under advisement. And I can
assure you that the subject is on my mind, by
day and night, more than any other. Whatever
shall appear to be God's will, I will do ! I trust
that, in the freedom with which I have canvassed
your views, I have not in any respect injured your
feelings. "

In further evidence of this peculiarity of his
mind, I will state that notwithstanding his apparent
hesitation in the appointment of a successor to
Judge Taney, it is well known to his most intimate
friends, that " there had never been a time during
his Presidency, when, in the event of the death of
Judge Taney, he had not fully intended and ex-
pected to nominate Salmon P. Chase for Chief
Justice." These were his very words uttered in
connection with this subject.

XXVIII.

In Barrett's biography of Mr. Lincoln, it is
stated that the first draft of the Emancipation
Proclamation was written on board of the steam-
boat returning from his 8th of July visit to
the army at Harrison's Landing. This circum-
stance was not included in the statement given
me, and to others in my presence, at different
times ; but from the known relations of the author
with the President, it is undoubtedly true. The
original draft was written upon one side of four

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 87

half sheets of official foolscap. He flung down
upon the table one day for me, several sheets of the
same, saying, " There, I believe, is some of the
very paper which was used ; — if not, it was, at any
rate, just like it." The original draft is dated
September 22d, 1862, and was presented to the
Army Relief Bazaar, at Albany, N. Y., in 1864.
It is in the proper handwriting of Mr. Lincoln,
excepting two interlineations in pencil, by Secre-
tary Sew^ard, and the formal heading and ending,
which were written by the chief clerk of the State
Department.

The final Proclamation was signed on New-
Year's Day, 1863. The President remarked t^
Mr. Colfax, the same evening, that the signature
appeared somewhat tremulous and uneven. "Not,'"
said he, " because of any uncertainty or hesitation
on my part ; but it was just after the public recep
tion, and three hours' hand-shaking is not calcu
lated to improve a man's chirography." Then
changing his tone, he added : " The South had fair
warning, that if they did not return to their duty,
I should strike at this pillar of their strength. The
promise must now be kept, and I shall never recall
one word."

I remember to have asked him, on one occasion,
if there was not some opposition manifested on the
part of several members of the Cabinet to this
policy. He replied, " Nothing more than I have
stated to you. Mr. Blair thought we should lose

38 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the fall elections, and opposed it on that ground
only." "I have understood," said I, "that Sec-
retary Smith was not in favor of your action. Mr.
Blair told me that, when the meeting closed, he
and the Secretary of the Interior went away to-
gether, and that the latter said to him, if the Pres-
ident carried out that policy, he might count on
losing . Indiana, sure ! " "He never said anything
of the kind to me," returned the President. "And
what is Mr. Blair's opinion now? " I asked. " Oh,"
was the prompt reply, " he proved right in regard
to the fall elections, but he is satisfied that we have
since gained more than we lost." " I have been
told," I added, "that Judge Bates doubted the
constitutionality of the proclamation." " He never
expressed such an opinion in my hearing," replied
Mr. Lincoln. " No member of the Cabinet ever
dissented from the policy, in any conversation with
me."

XXIX.

It seems necessary at this point that an expla-
nation should be given of a leading article which
appeared in the New York " Independent," upon
the withdrawal of Mr. Chase from the political can-
vass of 1864, widely copied by the country press,
in which it was stated that the concluding paragraph
of the proclamation was from the pen of Secretary
Chase. One of Mr. Lincoln's intimate friends, who
felt that there was an impropriety in this publication,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 89

at that time, for which Mr. Chase was in some de-
gree responsible, went to see the President about it.
" Oh," said Mr. Lincoln, with his characteristic
simplicity and freedom from all suspicion, " Mr.
Chase had nothing to do with it ; I think I men-
tioned the circumstance to Mr. Tilton, myself."

The facts in the case are these : While the meas-
ure was pending, Mr. Chase submitted to the
President a draft of a proclamation embodying his
views upon the subject, which closed with the ap-
propriate and solemn words referred to : "And
upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of
justice warranted by the Constitution, I invoke
the considerate judgment of mankind and the gra-
cious favor of Almighty God ! "

Mr. Lincoln adopted this sentence intact, except-
ing that he inserted after the word " Constitution "
the words " upon military necessity."

XXX.

Mr. Chase told me that at the Cabinet meeting,
immediately after the battle of Antietam, and just
prior to the issue of the September Proclamation,
the President entered upon the business before
them, by saying that " the time for the annuncia-
tion of the emancipation policy could be no longer
delayed. Public sentiment," he thought, " would
sustain it — many of his warmest friends and sup-
porters demanded it — and he had promised hit

90 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

God that he would do it ! " The last part of this
was uttered in a low tone, and appeared to be
heard by no one but Secretary Chase, who was
sitting near him. He asked the President if he
correctly understood him. Mr. Lincoln replied :
" I made a solemn vow before God, that if General
Lee was driven back from Pennsylvania, I would
crown the result by the declaration of freedom to the
slaves."

In February 1865, a few days after the passage of
the " Constitutional Amendment," I went to Wash-
ington, and was received by Mr. Lincoln with the
kindness and familiarity which had characterized our
previous intercourse. I said to him at this time
that I was very proud to have been the artist to
have first conceived of the design of painting a
picture commemorative of the Act of Emancipa-
tion ; that subsequent occurrences had only con-
firmed my own first judgment of that act as the
most sublime moral event in our history. " Yes,"
said he, — and never do I remember to have no-
ticed in him more earnestness of expression or
manner, — " as affairs have turned, it is the central
ict of my administration, and the great event of the
nineteenth century"

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 91

XXXI.

The day after the review of Burnside's division,
some photographers from Brady's Gallery came up
to the White House to make some stereoscopic
studies for me of the President's office. They
requested a dark closet, in which to develop the
pictures ; and without a tli ought that I was in-
fringing upon anybody's rights, I took them to an
unoccupied room of which little " Tad " had taken
possession a few days before, and with the aid of
a couple of the servants, had fitted up as a min-
iature theatre, with stage, curtains, orchestra,
stalls, parquette, and all. Knowing that the use
required would interfere with none of his arrange-
ments, I led the way to this apartment.

Everything went on well, and one or two pict-
ures had been taken, when suddenly there was an
uproar. The operator came back to the office,
and said that " Tad " had taken great offence at
the occupation of his room without his consent, and
had locked the door, refusing all admission. The
chemicals had been taken inside, and there was
no way of getting at them, he having carried off
the key. In the midst of this conversation, " Tad "
burst in, in a fearful passion. He laid all the
blame upon me, — said that I had no right to use
his room, and that the men should not go in even
to get their things. He had locked the door,
and they should not go there again — " they had no

92 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

business in his room ! " Mr. Lincoln had been sitting
for a photograph, and was still in the chair. He
said, very mildly, " Tad, go and unlock the door."
Tad went off muttering into his mother's room,
refusing to obey. I followed him into the passage,
but no coaxing would pacify him. Upon my return
to the President, I found him still sitting patiently
in the chair, from which he had not risen. He
said : u Has not the boy opened that door ? " I
replied that we could do nothing with him, — he
had gone off in a great pet. Mr. Lincoln's lips
came together firmly, and then, suddenly rising, he
strode across the passage with the air of one bent
on punishment, and disappeared in the domestic
apartments. Directly he returned with the key to
the theatre, which he unlocked himself. " There,"
said he, " go ahead, it is all right now." He then
went back to his office, followed by myself, and
resumed his seat. " Tad," said he, half apolo-
getically, " is a peculiar child. He was vio-
lently excited when I went to him. I said, ' Tad,
do you know you are making your father a great
deal of trouble ? ' He burst into tears, instantly
giving me up the key."

This brief glimpse of the home life of the Presi-
dent, though trifling in itself, is the gauge of his
entire domestic character. The Hon. W. D. Kelly,
of Philadelphia, in an address delivered in that city
soon after the assasination, said : " His intercourse
with his family was beautiful as that with his ft nds.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 93

[ think that father never loved his children more
fondly than he. The President never seemed
grander in my sight than when, stealing upon him
in the evening, I would find him with a book open
before him, as he is represented in the popular pho-
tograph, with little Tad beside him. There were
of course a great many curious books sent to him,
and it seemed to be one of the special delights of
his life to open those books at such an hour, that
his boy could stand beside him, and they could talk
as he turned over the pages, the father thus giving
to the son a portion of that care and attention of
which he was ordinarily deprived by the duties of
office pressing upon him."

No matter who was with the President, or how
intently he might be absorbed, little Tad was
always welcome. At the time of which I write he
was eleven years old, and of course rapidly passing
from childhood into youth. Suffering much from an
infirmity of speech which developed in his infancy,
he seemed on this account especially dear to his
father. " One touch of nature makes the whole
world kin," and it was an impressive and affecting
sight to me to see the burdened President lost for
the time being in the affectionate parent, as he
would take the little fellow in his arms upon the
withdrawal of visitors, and caress him with all the
fondness of a mother for the babe upon her bosom !
Tad, as he was universally called, almost
always accompanied his father upon the various

94 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

excursions down the Potomac, which lie was in tne
habit of making. Once, on the way to Fortress
Monroe, he became very troublesome. The Pres-
ident was much engaged in conversation with the
party who accompanied him, and he at length said,
u Tad, if you will be a good boy, and not disturb
me any more till we get to Fortress Monroe, I will
give you a dollar." The hope of reward was effect-
ual for a while in securing silence, but, boy-like.
Tad soon forgot his promise, and was as noisy as
ever. Upon reaching their destination, however, he
said very promptly, " Father, I want my dollar."
Mr. Lincoln turned to him with the inquiry : " Tad,
do you think you have earned it?" "Yes," was
the sturdy reply. Mr. Lincoln looked at him half
reproachfully for an instant, and then taking from
his pocket-book a dollar note, he said : " Well, my
son, at any rate, I will keep my part of the bargain."
While paying a visit to Commodore Porter at
Fortress Monroe, on one occasion, an incident oc-
curred, subsequently related by Lieutenant Braine,
one of the officers on board the flag-ship, to the
Rev. Mr. Ewer, of New York. Noticing that
the banks of the river were dotted with spring
blossoms, the President said, with the manner of
one asking a special favor : " Commodore, Tad
is very fond of flowers ; — won't you let a couple
of your men take a boat and go with him for a:i
hour or two along shore, and gather a few? — ji
will be a great gratification to him."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 95

There is a lesson in snch simple incidents, —
abounding as they did in the life of the late Presi-
dent, — which should not be lost upon the young
men of this country. The Commander-in-Chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States, —
with almost unlimited power in his hands, — the
meekness and simplicity with which Mr. Lincoln
bore the honors of that high position, is a "spectacle
for all time. How paltry do conceit and vainglory
appear in the majesty of such an example.

" Nothing was more marked in Mr. Lincoln's
personal demeanor," writes one who knew him
well,* " than his utter unconsciousness of his posi-
tion. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find
another man who would not, upon a sudden trans-
fer from the obscurity of private life in a country
town to the dignities and duties of the Presidency,
feel it incumbent upon him to assume something
of the manner and tone befitting that position.
Mr. Lincoln never seemed to be aware that his
place or his business were essentially different from
those in which he had always been engaged. He
brought to every question — the loftiest and most
imposing — the same patient inquiry into details,
the same eager longing to know and to do ex-
actly what was just and right, and the same work-
ing-day, plodding, laborious devotion, which char-
acterized his management of a client's case at hig
law office in Springfield. He had duties to perform

* Hon. Henry J. Raymond.

96 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

m both places — in the one case to his country, as
to his client in the other. But all duties were alike
to him. All called equally upon him for the best
service of his mind and heart, and all were alike
performed with a conscientious, single-hearted de-
votion that knew no distinction, but was absolute
\nd perfect in every case."

XXXII.

In the Executive Chamber one evening, there
flrere present a number of gentlemen, among them
Mr. Seward.

A point in the conversation suggesting the
thought, the President said : " Seward, you never
heard, did you, how I earned my first dollar?"
" No," rejoined Mr. Seward. " Well," continued
Mr. Lincoln, " I was about eighteen years of age.
I belonged, you know, to what they call down
South, the ' scrubs ; ' people who do not own
slaves are nobody there. But we had succeeded
in raising, chiefly by my labor, sufficient produce,
as I thought, to justify me in taking it down the
river to sell.

" After much persuasion, I got the consent of
mother to go, and constructed a little flatboat, large
enough to take a barrel or two of things that W3
had gathered, with myself and little bundle, dowi,
to New Orleans. A steamer was coming down
the river. We have, vou know, no wharves on

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 97

the Western streams ; and the custom was, if
passengers were at any of the landings, for them to
go out in a boat, the steamer stopping and taking
them on board.

" I was contemplating my new flatboat, and won-
dering whether I could make it stronger or improve
it in any particular, when two men came down to
the shore in carriages with trunks, and looking at
the different boats singled out mine, and asked,
1 Who owns this ? ' I answered, somewhat mod-
estly, ' I do.' ' Will you,' said one of them, ' take
us and our trunks out to the steamer ? ' • Cer-
tainly,' said I. I was very glad to have the chance
of earning something. I supposed that each of
them would give me two or three bits. The trunks
were put on my flatboat, the passengers seated
themselves on the trunks, and I sculled them out to
the steamboat.

" They got on board, and I lifted up their heavy
trunks, and put them on deck. The steamer was
about to put on steam again, when I called out that
they had forgotten to pay me. Each of them took
from his pocket a silver half-dollar, and threw it on
the floor of my boat. I could scarcely believe my
eyes as I picked up the money. Gentlemen, you
may think it was a very little thing, and in these
days it seems to me a trifle ; but it was a most
important incident in my life I could scarcely
credit that I, a poor boy, had earned a dollar in less
than a day, — that by honest work I had earned a

98 SEX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

dollar. The world seemed wider and fairer before
me. I was a more hopeful and confident beincr
from that time."

XXXIIL

The Hon. Robert Dale Owen was associated in
a very interesting interview with Mr. Lincoln,
which took place a few weeks prior to the issue
of the President's Message for 1863, to which was
appended the Proclamation of Amnesty. It had
been understood in certain quarters that such a step
was at this period in contemplation by the Executive.
Being in Washington, Mr. Owen called upon the
President on a Saturday morning, and said that he
had a matter upon which he had expended consid-
erable thought, which he wished to lay before him.
Knowing nothing of the object, Mr. Lincoln replied :
" You see how it is this morning ; there are many
visitors waiting ; can't you come up to-morrow
morning ? I shall be alone then ; and, if you
have no scruples upon the subject, I can give you
as much time as you wish." Mr. Owen assured
him of his readiness to come at any hour most con-
venient, and ten o'clock was named. Punctual to
the appointment, the hour found him at the house.
A repeated summons at the bell brought no re-
sponse, and he at length pushed open the door and
walked leisurely up the stairs to the reception-room.
Neither servant or secretary was to be seen. Pres-
ently Mr. Lincoln passed through the hall to his

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 99

office, and all was still again. Looking vainly for a
servant to announce his name, Mr. Owen finally
went to the office- door, and knocked.

" Really," said he, " Mr. President, I owe you
an apology for coming in upon you in this uncere-
monious way ; but I have for some time been wait-
ing the appearance of a servant."

" Oh," was the good-natured reply, "the boys
are all out this morning. I have been expecting
you ; come in and sit down."

Proceeding directly to the subject he had in
hand, at the same time unfolding a manuscript of
large proportions, Mr. Owen said :

"I have a paper, here, Mr. President, that I
have prepared with some care, which I wish to read
to you."

Mr. Lincoln glanced at the formidable document,
(really much less voluminous than it appeared, be-
ing very coarsely written,) and then, half uncon-
sciously relapsing into an attitude and expression
of resignation to what he evidently considered an
infliction which could not well be avoided, signified
his readiness to listen. The article was a very
carefully prepared digest of historical precedents in
relation to the subject of amnesty, in connection
with treason and rebellion. It analyzed English
and continental history, and reviewed elaborately
the action of President Washington in reference to
Shay's and the subsequent whiskey rebellion.

" I had read but two or three pages," said Mr.

100 SIX MONTHS AT TilE WxiITE HOUSE.

Owen, in giving me this account, " when Mr.
Lincoln assumed an erect posture, and, fixing hia
eyes intently upon me, seemed wholly absorbed in
the contents of the manuscript. Frequently he
would break in with : ' Was that so ? ' ' Please
read that paragraph again,' etc. When at length
I came to Washington's proclamation to those en-
gaged in the whiskey rebellion, he interrupted
me with : ■ What ! did Washington issue a proc-
lamation of amnesty ? ' 4 Here it is, sir,' was the
reply. ( Well, I never knew that,' he rejoined ;
and so on through."

Upon the conclusion of the manuscript, Mr. Lin-
coln said : " Mr. Owen, is that for me ? "

44 Certainly, sir," said Mr. O., handing him the
roll. 44 I understood that you were considering this
subject, and thought a review of this kind might
be interesting to you."

" There is a good deal of hard work in that doc-
ument," continued Mr. Lincoln ; " may I ask how
long }rou were preparing it? "

44 About three months ; but then I have more
leisure for such a work than you, Mr. President."

Mr. Lincoln took the manuscript, and, folding it
up carefully, arose, and laid it away in the pigeon-
hole marked " O," in his desk. Returning to
his chair, he said : 44 Mr. Owen, it is due to you
that I should say that you have conferred a very
essential service, both upon me and the coun-
try, by the preparation of this paper. It contains

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 101

that which it was exceedingly important that 1
should know, but which, if left to myself, I never
should have known, because 1 have not the time
necessary for such an examination of authorities as
a review of this kind involves. And I want to say,
secondly, if I had had the time, I could not have
done the work so well as you have done it."

This frank and generous avowal — so unlike
what might be expected, under similar circum-
stances, from most public men — was exceedingly
characteristic of Mr. Lincoln.

XXXTV.

The morning of the last day of April, Mr.
Wilkeson, the head of the New York uTribune" bu-
reau of correspondence in Washington at that
period, called upon me with his sister-in-law, Mrs.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, well known for her radical
views on political and social questions, who wished
an introduction to the President. Later in the day,
after the accustomed pressure of visitors had sub-
sided, I knocked at the door of the President's
study, and asked if I might bring up two or three
New York friends. Mr. Lincoln fortunately was
alone, and at once accorded the desired permission.
Laying aside his papers, as we entered, he turned
around in his chair for a leisurely conversation.
One of the party took occasion shortly to endorse
fery decidedly the Amnesty Proclamation, which

102 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

had been severely censured by many friends of the
Administration. This approval appeared to touch
Mr. Lincoln deeply. He said, with a great deal of
emphasis, and with an expression of countenance I
shall never forget, " When a man is sincerely pen-
itent for his misdeeds, and gives satisfactory evi-
dence of the same, he can safely be pardoned, and
there is no exception to the rule."

Soon afterward he mentioned having received a
visit the night before from Colonel Moody, " the
fighting Methodist parson," as he was called in Ten-
nessee, who had come on to attend the Philadelphia
Conference. " He told me," said he, " this story
of Andy Johnson and General Buel, which inter-
ested me intensely. The Colonel happened to be
in Nashville the day it was reported that Buel
had decided to evacuate the city. The Rebels,
strongly re enforced, were said to be within two
days' march of the capital. Of course, the city
was greatly excited. Moody said he went in search
of Johnson, at the edge of the evening, and found
him at his office, closeted with two gentlemen,
who were walking the floor with him, one on each
side. As he entered, they retired, leaving him
alone with Johnson, who came up to him, manifest-
ing intense feeling, and said, l Moody, *ve are
sold out ! Buel is a traitor ! He is going- to evac-
uate the city, and in forty-eight hours we shall all
be in the hands of the Rebels ! ' Then he com-
menced pacing the floor again, twisting his hands,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 103

and chafing like a caged tiger, utterly insensible to
his friend's entreaties to become calm. Suddenly
he turned and said, i Moody, can you pray ? '
fc That is my business, sir, as a minister of the Gos-
pel,' returned the Colonel. 'Well, Moody, I
wish you would pray,' said Johnson ; and instantly
both went down upon their knees, at opposite sides
of the room. As the prayer waxed fervent, John-
son began to respond in true Methodist style.
Presently he crawled over on his hands and knees
to Moody's side, and put his arm over him, mani-
festing the deepest emotion. Closing the prayer
with a hearty 4 Amen ' from each, they arose.
Johnson took a long breath, and said, with em-
phasis, ' Moody, I feel better ! ' Shortly after-
wards he asked, ' Will you stand by me ? ' ' Cer-
tainly I will,' was the answer. ' Well, Moody, I
can depend upon you; you are one in a hundred
thousand ! ' He then commenced pacing the floor
again. Suddenly he wheeled, the current of his
thought having changed, and said, ' Oh ! Moody,
I don't want you to think I have become a religious
man because I asked you to pray. I am sorry tc
say it, but I am not, and have never pretended to
be, religious. No one knows this better than you ;
but, Moody, there is one thing about it — I do be-
lieve in Almighty God ! And I believe also in

the Bible, and I say " d n " me, if Nashville

shall be surrendered ! ' "

And Nj-ihviU* was not surrendered.

104 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

XXXV.

I have elsewhere intimated that Mr. Lincoln was
capable of much dramatic power. It is true this
was never exhibited in his public life, or addresses,
hut it was shown in his keen appreciation of Shak-
speare, and unrivalled faculty of story-telling.
The incident just related, for example, was given
with a thrilling effect which mentally placed John-
son, for the time being, alongside of Luther and
Cromwell. Profanity or irreverence was lost sight
of in the fervid utterance of a highly wrought
and great-souled determination, united with a rare
exhibition of pathos and self-abnegation,

A narrative of quite a different character fol-
lowed closely upon this, suggested by a remark
made by myself. It was an account of how the
President and Secretary of War received the news
of the capture of Norfolk, early in the war. " Chase
and Stanton," said Mr. Lincoln, "had accompanied
me to Fortress Monroe. While we were there, an
expedition was fitted out for an attack on Norfolk.
Chase and General Wool disappeared about the
time we began to look for tidings of the result, and
after vainly waiting their return till late in the
evening, Stanton and I concluded to retire. My
room was on the second floor of the Commandant's
house, and Stanton's was below. The night was
very warm, — the moon shining brightly, — and,
*oo restless to sleep, I threw off my clothes and sat

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 105

for some time by the table, reading. Suddenly
hearing footsteps, I looked out of the window, and
saw two persons approaching, whom 1 knew by
their relative size to be the missing men. They
came into the passage and I heard them rap at
Stanton's door and tell him to get up, and come
tip-stairs. A moment afterward they entered my
room. ' No time for ceremony, Mr. President,'
said General Wool ; i Norfolk is ours ! ' Stanton
here burst in, just out of bed, clad in a long night-
gown, which nearly swept the floor, his ear catching,
as he crossed the threshold, Wool's last words.
Perfectly overjoyed, he rushed at the General,
whom he hugged most affectionately, fairly lifting
him from the floor in his delight. The scene alto-
gether must have been a comical one, though at
the time we were all too greatly eicited to take
much note of mere appearances."

XXXVI.

A great deal has been said of the uniform meek-
ness and kindness of heart of Mr. Lincoln, but
there would sometimes be afforded evidence that
one grain of sand too much would break even this
camel's back. Among the callers at the White
House one day, was an officer who had been cash-
iered from the service. He had prepared an elab-
orate defence of himself, which he consumed much
time in reading to the President. When he had

106 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

finished, Mr. Lincoln replied, that even upon his
own statement of the ease, the facts would not
warrant executive interference. Disappointed, and
considerably crestfallen, the man withdrew. A
fewr days afterward he made a second attempt to
alter the President's convictions, going over sub-
stantially the same ground, and occupying about
the same space of time, but without accomplishing
his end. The third time he succeeded in forcing
himself into Mr. Lincoln's presence, who with great
forbearance listened to another repetition of the
case to its conclusion, but made no reply. Waiting
for a moment, the man gathered from the expres-
sion of his countenance that his mind was uncon-
vinced. Turning very abruptly, he said : " Well,
Mr. President, I see you are fully determined not
to do me justice ! " This was too aggravating,
even for Mr. Lincoln. Manifesting, however, no
more feeling than that indicated by a slight com-
pression of the lips, he very quietly arose, laid
down a package of papers he held in his hand, and
then suddenly seizing the defunct officer by the
coat-collar, he marched him forcibly to the door,
saying, as he ejected him into the passage : " Sir, I
give you fair warning never to show yourself in
this room again. I can bear censure, but not in-
sult ! " In a whining tone the man begged for his
papers, which he had dropped. "Begone, sir,"
said the President, " your papers will be sent to
jrou. I never wish to see your face again ! "

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 107

Upon another occasion, as I was going through
the passage, the door of the President's office sud-
denly opened, and two ladies, one of whom seemed
in a towering passion, were unceremoniously ush-
ered out by one of the attendants. As they passed
me on their way down the stairs, I overheard the
elder remonstrating with her companion upon the
violence of her expressions. I afterward asked old
Daniel what had happened ? " Oh," he replied,
" the younger woman was very saucy to the Presi-
dent. She went one step too far ; and he told me
to show them out of the house ? "

Of a similar character is an incident given
by "N. C. J.," in a letter to the New York
" Times " : —

" Among the various applicants, a well-dressed
lady came forward, without apparent embarrass-
ment in her air or manner, and addressed the Presi-
dent. Giving her a very close and scrutinizing
look, he said, 4 Well, madam, what can I do for
you ? ' She proceeded to tell him that she lived in
Alexandria ; that the church where she worshipped
had been taken for a hospital. 4 What church,
madam ? ' Mr. Lincoln asked, in a quick, nervous

manner. c The church,' she replied ; 4 and

as there are only two or three wounded soldiers in
it, I came to see if you would not let us have it, as
we want it very much to worship God in.' 4 Mad-
am, have you been to see the Post Surgeon at
Alexandria about this matter ? ' 'Yes, sir ; but we

108 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

could do nothing with him.' i Well, we put him
there to attend to just such business, and it is rea-
sonable to suppose that he knows better what
should be done under the circumstances than I do.
See here : you say you live in Alexandria ; prob-
ably you own property there. How much will you
give to assist in building a hospital ? '

" ' You know, Mr. Lincoln, our property is very
much embarrassed by the war ; — so, really, I could
hardly afford to give much for such a purpose.'

" ' Well, madam, I expect we shall have another
fight soon ; and my candid opinion is, God wants
that church for poor wounded Union soldiers, as
much as he does for secesh people to worship in.'
Turning to his table, he said, quite abruptly, • You
will excuse me ; I can do nothing for you. Good
day, madam.'

" I had noticed two other women who stood just
back of me. I was fully convinced that I had
rightly guessed their errand from their appearance ;
for one of them, whose wicked eyes shot fire, said to
her companion in a spiteful under-tone, • Oh ! the
old brute, — there is no use asking for our passes ;
come, let 's go.' And they did go, in evident
wrath ; leaving the President to perform more
jhasant duties."

The same correspondent witnessed also the fol-
lowing scene —

" A couple of aged, plain country people, poorly
clad, but with frank open countenances, now came

SiX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 109

forward. 4 Now is your time, dear,' said the hus-
band, as the President dismissed the one preceding
them. The lady stepped forward, made a low
courtesy, and said, ' Mr. President.'

" Mr. Lincoln, looking over his spectacles, fixed
those gray, piercing, yet mild eyes upon her, then
lifting his head and extending his hand, he said, in
the kindest tones : l Well, good lady, what can I
do for you ? '

"'Mr. President,' she resumed, 'I feel so 'em-
barrassed I can hardly speak. I never spoke to a
President before ; but I am a good Union woman
down in Maryland, and my son is wounded badly,
and in the hospital, and I have been trying to get
him out, but somehow could n't, and they said I had
better come right to you. When the war first
broke out I gave my son first to God, and then told
him he might go fight the Rebels ; and now if you
will let me take him home I will nurse him up,
and just as soon as he gets well enough he shall go
right back and help put down the rebellion. He is
a good boy, and don't want to shirk the service.'

" I was looking full in Mr. Lincoln's face. I saw
the tears gathering in his eyes, and his lips quiv~
ered as he replied :

" ' Yes, yes, God bless you ! you shall have your
son. What hospital did you say ? ' It seemed a
relief to him to turn aside and write a few words,
which he handed to the woman, saying : ' There,

give that to ; and you will get your son, if ho

is able to go home with you.'

110 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" ' God bless you, Mr. President ! ' said the
Father, the only words he had uttered ; and the
mother, making a low courtesy, fairly sobbed :
i O sir, we are so much obliged to you.' ' Yes,
yes ; all right ; and you will find that that will
bring him,' was spoken in tones so kindly and
tender, that they have often since thrilled my
memory."

XXXVII.

In the year 1855 or '56, George B. Lincoln,
Esq., of Brooklyn, was travelling through the West
in connection with a large New York dry-goods
establishment. He found himself one night in an
insignificant town on the Illinois River, by the name
of Naples. The only tavern of the place had evi-
dently been constructed with reference to business
on the smallest possible scale. Poor as the prospect
seemed, Mr. Lincoln had no alternative but to
put up at the place. The supper-room was also
used as a lodging-room. After a tolerable supper
and a comfortable hour before the fire, Mr. L.
told his host that he thought he would " go to
bed." "Bed!" echoed the landlord; "there is
no bed for you in this house, unless you sleep with
that man yonder. He has the only one we have
to spare." "Well," returned Mr. Lincoln, "the
gentleman has possession, and perhaps would not
like a bedfellow." Upon this, a grizzly head ap-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. HI

peared oat of the pillows, and said, " What is your
name ? " " They call me Lincoln at home," was
the reply. " Lincoln ! " repeated the stranger ;
" any connection of our Illinois Abraham ? " " No,"
replied Mr. L., " I fear not." " Well," said the
old man, " I will let any man by the name of
4 Lincoln ' sleep with me, just for the sake of the
name. You have heard of Abe ? " he inquired.
" Oh yes, very often," replied Mr. Lincoln. " No
man could travel far in this State without hearing
of Mm, and I would be very glad to claim connec-
tion, if I could do so honestly." " Well," said the
old gentleman, " my name is Simmons. ' Abe '
and I used to live and work together when we
were young men. Many a job of wood-cutting and
raiJ-splitting have I done up with him. Abe Lin-
coln, " said he with emphasis, " was the likeliest
boy in God's world. He would work all day as
hard as any of us — and study by firelight in the
log-house half the night ; and in this way he made
himself a thorough practical surveyor. Once, dur-
ing those days, I was in the upper part of the State,
and I met General Ewing, whom President Jack-
son had sent to the Northwest to make surveys.
I told him about Abe Lincoln, what a student li3
was, and that I wanted he should give him a job;
He looked over his memoranda, and, pulling oui
a paper, said : ' There is county must be sur-
veyed ; if your friend can do the work properly, J
shall be glad to have him undertake it — - the com

112 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

pensation will be six hundred dollars ! ' Pleased .
as I could be, I hastened to Abe, after I got
home, with an account of what I had secured for
him. He was sitting before the fire in the log-
cabin when I told him ; and what do you think was
his answer ? When I finished, he looked up very
quietly, and said, 4 Mr. Simmons, I thank you very
sincerely for your kindness, but I don't think I will
undertake the job.' 4 In the name of wonder,' said
I, c why ? Six hundred dollars does not grow upon
every bush out here in Illinois.' ■ I know that,'
said Abe, i and I need the money bad enough,
Simmons, as you know ; but I never have been
under obligation to a Democratic administration,
and I never intend to be so long as I can get my
living another way. General Ewing must find
another man to do his work.' "

I related this story to the President one day, and
asked him if it was true. " Pollard Simmons ! "
said he : " well do I remember him. It is correct
about our working together ; but the old man must
have stretched the facts somewhat about the survey
of the county. I think I should have been very
glad of the job at that time, no matter what admin-
istration was in power." Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, I am inclined to believe Mr. Simmons
was not far out of the way. His statement seems
very characteristic of what Abraham Lincoln may
be supposed to have been at twenty-three or
twenty-five years of age.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE 113

Mr. G. B. Lincoln also told me of an amusing
circumstance which took place at Springfield soon
after Mr. Lincoln's nomination in 1860. A hatter
in Brooklyn secretly obtained the size of the future
President's head, and made for him a very elegant
hat, which he sent by his townsman, Lincoln, to
Springfield. About the time it was presented,
various othjer testimonials of a similar character
had come in from different sections. Mr. Lincoln
took the hat, and after admiring its texture and
workmanship, put it on his head and walked up to
a looking-glass. Glancing from the reflection to
Mrs. Lincoln, he said, with his peculiar twinkle of
the eye, u Well, wife, there is one thing likely to
come out of this scrape, any how. We are going
to have some new clothes!"

One afternoon during the summer of 1862, th<
President accompanied several gentlemen to the
Washington Navy-yard, to witness some experiments
with a newly-invented gun. Subsequently the
party went aboard of one of the steamers lying at
the wharf. A discussion was going on as to the
merits of the invention, in the midst of which Mr.
Lincoln caught sight of some axes hanging up out-
side of the cabin. Leaving the group, he quietly
went forward, and taking one down, returned with
it, and said : " Gentlemen, you may talk about
your ' Raphael repeaters ' and i eleven-inch Dahl-
grens ; ' but here is an institution which I guess 1
understand better than either of you." With that

114 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

he held the axe out at arm's length by the end of
the handle, or u helve," as the wood-cutters call
it — a feat not another person of the party could
perform, though all made the attempt. In such
acts as this, showing that he neither forgot nor was
ashamed of his humble origin, the late President
exhibited his true nobility of character. He was a
perfect illustration of his favorite poet's words : —

" The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gold, for a' that! "

xxxvni.

In March, 1864, Edwin Forrest came to Wash-
ington to fulfil an engagement at Ford's Theatre.
It was announced one day that he was to appear
that evening in " Richelieu." I was with the
President, when Senator Harris of New York came
in. After he had finished his business, which was
to secure the remittance of the sentence of one of
his constituents, who had been imprisoned on what
seemed insufficient grounds, I told the President
that Forrest was to play Richelieu that evening..
and, knowing his tastes, I said it was a play
which I thought he would enjoy, for Forrest's rep-
resentation of it was the most life-like of anything
I had ever seen upon the stage. " Who wrote the
play?" said he. " Bulwer," I replied. " Ah ! "
he rejoined ; " well, I knew Bulwer wrote novels.
but I did not know he was a play-writer also. It

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 115

may seem somewhat strange to say," he continued,
" hut I never read an entire novel in my life ! "
Said Judge Harris, "Is it possible?" "Yes,"
returned the President, " it is a fact. I once com-
menced 'Ivanhoe,' but never finished it." This
statement, in this age of the world, seems almost
incredible — but I give the circumstance as it oc-
curred.

However it may have been with regard to nov-
els, it is very certain — as I have already illus-
trated — that he found time to read Shakspeare ;
and that he was also fond of certain kinds of poetry.
N. P. Willis once told me, that he was taken quite
by surprise, on a certain occasion when he was
riding with the President and Mrs. Lincoln, by
Mr. Lincoln, of his own accord, referring to, and
quoting several lines from his poem entitled " Par-
rhasius."

In the spring of 1862, the President spent sev-
eral days at Fortress Monroe, awaiting military
operations upon the Peninsula. As a portion of
the Cabinet were with him, that was temporarily
the seat of government, and he bore with him con-
stantly the burden of public affairs. His favorite
diversion was reading Shakspeare. One day (it
chanced to be the day before the capture of
Norfolk) as he sat reading alone, he called to his
aide * in the adjoining room, — " You have been
writing long enough, Colonel ; come in here ; I

* Colonel Le Grand B. Cannon, of General Wool's staff

116 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

want to read you a passage in fc Hamlet.' " He read
the discussion on ambition between Hamlet and his
courtiers, and the soliloquy, in which conscience
debates of a future state. This was followed by
passages from " Macbeth." Then opening to " King
John," he read from the third act the passage in
which Constance bewails her imprisoned, lost boy.
Closing the book, and recalling the words, —

" And, father cardinal, I have heard you say
That we shall see and know our friends in heaven:
If that be true, I shall see my boy again," —

Mr. Lincoln said : " Colonel, did you ever dream
of a lost friend, and feel that you were holding
sweet communion with that friend, and yet have a
sad consciousness that it was not a reality? — just
so I dream of my boy Willie." Overcome with
emotion, he dropped his head on the table, and
sobbed aloud.

XXXIX.

William Wallace Lincoln, I never knew. He
died Thursday, February 20th, 1862, nearly two
years before my intercourse with the President
commenced. He had just entered upon his twelfth
year, and has been described to me as of an un-
usually serious and thoughtful disposition. His
death was the most crushing; affliction Mr. Lincoln
had ever been called upon to pass through.

After the funeral, the President resumed his

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUS~. 117

official duties, but mechanically, and with a terrible
weight at his heart. The following Thursday he
gave way to his feelings, and shut himself from all
society. The second Thursday it was the same ;
he would see no one, and seemed a prey to the
deepest melancholy. About this time the Rev.
Francis Vinton, of Trinity Church, New York, had
occasion to spend a few days in Washington. An
acquaintance of Mrs. Lincoln and of her sister,
Mrs. Edwards, of Springfield, he was requested by
them to come up and see the President. The
setting apart of Thursday for the indulgence of his
grief had gone on for several weeks, and Mrs.
Lincoln began to be seriously alarmed for the
health of her husband, of which fact Dr. Vinton was
apprised. Mr. Lincoln received him in the parlor,
and an opportunity was soon embraced by the cler-
gyman to chide him for showing so rebellious a
disposition to the decrees of Providence. He told
him plainly that the indulgence of such feelings,
though natural, was sinful. It was unworthy one
who believed in the Christian religion. He had
duties to the living, greater than those of any other
man, as the chosen father, and leader of the people,
and he was unfitting himself for his responsibilities
by thus giving way to his grief. To mourn the
departed as lost belonged to heathenism — not to
Christianity. "Your son," said Dr. Vinton, "is
alive, in Paradise. Do you remember that passage
in the Gospels : ' God is not the God of the dead

118 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

but of the living, for all live unto him ' ? " The
President had listened as one in a stupor, until his
ear caught the words, " Your son is alive." Start-
ing from the sofa, he exclaimed, "Alive! alive!
Surely you mock me." " No, sir, believe me," re-
plied Dr. Vinton ; " it is a most comforting doctrine
of the church, founded upon the words of Christ
himself." Mr. Lincoln looked at him a moment,
and then, stepping forward, he threw his arm
around the clergyman's neck, and, laying his head
upon his breast, sobbed aloud. " Alive f alive § "
he repeated. " My dear sir," said Dr. Vinton,
greatly moved, as he twined his own arm around
the weeping father, " believe this, for it is God's
most precious truth. Seek not your son among the
dead ; he is not there ; he lives to-day in Paradise !
Think of the full import of the words I have
quoted. The Sadducees, when they questioned
Jesus, had no other conception than that Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead and buried.
Mark the reply : • Now that the dead are raised,
even Moses showed at the bush when he called the
Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob. For he is not the God of the
dead, but of the living, for all live unto him ! ' Did
not the aged patriarch mourn his sons as dead ? —
4 Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take
Benjamin also.' But Joseph and Simeon were
both living, though he believed it not. Indeed,
Joseph being taken from him, was the eventual

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 119

means of the preservation of the whole family.
And so God has called your son into his upper
kingdom — a kingdom and an existence as real,
more real, than your own. It may be that he too,
like Joseph, has gone, in God's good providence, to
be the salvation of his father's household. It is a
part of the Lord's plan for the ultimate happiness
of you and yours. Doubt it not. I have a ser-
mon," continued Dr. Vinton, " upon this subject,
which I think might interest you." Mr. Lincoln
begged him to send it at an early day — thanking
him repeatedly for his cheering and hopeful words.
The sermon was sent, and read over and over
by the President, who caused a copy to be made
for his own private use before it was returned.
Through a member of the family, I have been in-
formed that Mr. Lincoln's views in relation to spir-
itual things seemed changed from that hour. Cer-
tain it is, that thenceforth he ceased the observance
of the day of the week upon which his son died,
and gradually resumed his accustomed cheerfulness

XL.

Among my visitors in the early part of May was
the Hon. Mr. Alley, of Massachusetts, who gave
me a deeply interesting inside glimpse of the
Chicago Republican Convention in 1860. The pop-
ular current had, at first, set very strongly in favor
of Mr. Seward, who, many supposed, would be

120 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

nominated almost by acclamation. The evening
before the balloting the excitement was at the
highest pitch. Mr. Lincoln was telegraphed at
Springfield, that his chances with the Convention
depended upon obtaining the votes of two delega-
* tions which were named in the despatch ; and that,
to socure this support, he must pledge himself, if
elected, to give places in his Cabinet to the respec-
tive heads of those delegations. A reply was im-
mediately returned over the wires, characteristic of
the man. It was to this effect : —

" I authorize no bargains, and will be bound by
none. A. Lincoln."

It is unqestionable that the country was not pre-
pared for the final action of this Convention. In
various sections of the Eastern and Middle States,
the antecedents and even the name of Mr. Lincoln
were entirely unknown. The newspapers announced
the nominee as the " Illinois Rail-splitter ; " and
however popular this title may have been with the
masses, it is not to be denied that it seemed to
many people a very extraordinary qualification for
the Presidency. An acquaintance of mine, who
happened to be in Boston on the evening of the
day the Convention adjourned, formed one of a
large group at his hotel, eagerly discussing the
result. Only one or two of the party knew any-
thing whatever of the first name on the u ticket,"
and what they knew was soon told. Considerable

SfX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 121

disappointment could be seen in the faces of those
composing the circle. One rough-looking sover-
eign, from Cape Cod, or Nantucket, had listened
attentively, but taken no part in the conversation.
Turning away at length, with an expression of deep
disgust, he muttered : " A set of consummate fools !
Nominate a man for the Presidency who has never
smelt salt water ! "

Some of Mr. Lincoln's immediate neighbors were
taken as completely by surprise as those in distant
States. An old resident of Springfield told me that
there lived within a block or two of his house, in
that city, an Englishman, who of course still cher-
ished to some extent the ideas and prejudices of his
native land. Upon hearing of the choice at Chi-
cago he could not contain his astonishment.

" What ! " said he, " Abe Lincoln nominated for
President of the United States ? Can it be possible !
A man that buys a ten-cent beefsteak for his break-
fast, and carries it home himself. "

A correspondent of the " Portland Press " has
given to the public the following account of Mr.
Lincoln's reception of the nomination : —

* In June, 1860, a Massachusetts gentleman was
induced to take the opportunity, in company with
several delegates and others interested in the objects
of the Convention, to go to Chicago and spend a
few days in visiting that section of our country. In
jl very few minutes after the final balloting, when
Mr. Lincoln was nominated, it happened that a

122 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

train of cars started upon the Central Railroad,
passing through Springfield, and Mr. R. took pas-
sage in the samei Arriving at Springfield, he put
up at a public house, and, loitering upon the front
door-steps, had the curiosity to inquire of the land-
lord where Mr. Lincoln lived. While giving the
necessary directions, the landlord suddenly re-
marked, ' There is Mr. Lincoln now, coming down
the sidewalk ; that tall, crooked man, loosely walk-
ing this way. If you wish to see him, you will have
an opportunity by putting yourself in his track.'

" In a few moments the object of his curiosity
reached the point the gentleman occupied, who,
advancing, ventured to accost him thus : ' Is this
Mr. Lincoln ? ' 4 That, sir, is my name,' was the
courteous reply. ' My name is R., from Plymouth
County, Massachusetts,' returned the gentleman,
and learning that you have to lay been made the
public property of the United States, I have ven
tured to introduce myself, with a view to a brief
acquaintance, hoping you will pardon such a patri
otic curiosity in a stranger.' Mr. Lincoln received
his salutations with cordiality, told him no apologv
was necessary for his introduction, and asked liiir
to accompany him to his residence. He had just
come from the telegraph office, where he had learned
the fact of his nomination ; and was on his return
home, when Mr. R. met and accompanied him
thither.

" Arriving at Mr. Lincoln's residence, he was

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 123

introduced to Mrs. Lincoln and the two boys, and
entered into conversation in relation to the Lincoln
family of the Old Colony, — the Hingham General
Lincoln of the Revolutionary army, and the two
Worcester Lincolns, brothers, who were governors
of Massachusetts and Maine at one and the same
time. In reply to Mr. R.'s inquiry, whether he
could trace his ancestry to either of those early
families of his own name, Mr. Lincoln, with charac-
teristic facetiousness, replied that he could not say
that he ever had an ancestor older than his father ;
and therefore had it not in his power to trace his
genealogy to so patriotic a source as old General
Lincoln of the Revolution ; though he wished he
could. After some further pleasant conversation,
chiefly relating to the early history of the Pilgrim
Fathers, with which he seemed familiar, Mr. R.
desired the privilege of writing a letter. to be de-
spatched by the next mail. He was very promptly
and kindly provided with the necessary means. As
he began to write, Mr. Lincoln approached, and
tapping him on the shoulder, expressed the hope
that he was not a spy who had come thus early to
report his faults to the public. ' By no means, sir,'
protested Mr. R. ; 4 1 am writing home to my wife,
who, I dare say, will hardly credit the fact that I
am writing in your house.' ' O, sir,' rejoined Mr.
Lincoln, 4 if your wife doubts your word, I will
cheerfully indorse it, if you will give me permis-
sion ; ' and taking the pen from Mr. R., he wrote

124 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the following words in a clear hand upon the blank
page of the letter : —

" ' I am happy to say that your husband is at the
present time a guest in my house, and in due time
I trust you will greet his safe return to the bosom
of his family. A. Lincoln.'

" This gave Mr. R. an excellent autograph of
Mr. Lincoln, besides bearing witness to his hospi-
table and cheerful spirit.

" Whilst thus engaged in pleasant conversation,
the cars arrived that brought from Chicago the
committee of the Convention appointed to notify
Mr. Lincoln of his nomination. He received them
at the door, and conducted them to seats in his
parlor. On the reception of this committee, Mr.
Lincoln appeared somewhat embarrassed, but soon
resumed his wonted tranquillity and cheerfulness.
At the proper time, Governor Morgan, of New
York, chairman of the committee, arose, and, with
becoming dignity, informed Mr. Lincoln that he and
his fellows appeared in behalf of the Convention in
session at Chicago, to inform him that he had that
day been unanimously nominated to the office of
President of the United States ; and asked his per-
mission to report to that body his acceptance of the
nomination. Mr. Lincoln, with becoming modesty,
but very handsomely, replied that he felt his insuf-
ficiency for the vast responsibilities which must de-
volve upon that office under {he impending circum-
stances of the times ; but if God and his country

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 125

called for his services in that direction, he should
shrink from no duty that might be imposed upon
him, and therefore he should not decline the nomi-
nation.

" After this ceremony had passed, Mr. Lincoln
remarked to the company, thp.t as an appropriate
conclusion to an interview so important and inter-
esting as that which had just transpired, he sup-
posed good manners would require that he should
treat the committee with something to drink ; and
opening a door that led into a room in the rear, he
called out ' Mary ! Mary ! ' A girl responded to
the call, to whom Mr. Lincoln spoke a few words in
an under-tone, and, closing the door, returned again
to converse with his guests. In a few minutes the
maiden entered, bearing a large waiter, containing
several glass tumblers, and a large pitcher in the
midst, and placed it upon the centre-table. Mr.
Lincoln arose, and gravely addressing the company,
said : ' Gentlemen, we must pledge our mutual
healths in the most healthy beverage which God
has given to man — it is the only beverage I have
ever used or allowed in my family, and I cannot
conscientiously depart from it on the present occa-
sion— it is pure Adam's ale from the spring; ' and,
taking a tumbler, he touched it to his lips, and
pledged them his highest respects in a cup of cold
water. Of course, all his guests were constrained
to admire his consistency, and to join in his ex
ample.

126 SiX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

" Mr. R., when he went to Chicago, had but
little political sympathy with the Republican Con-
vention which nominated Mr. Lincoln ; but when
he saw, as he did see for himself, his sturdy adhe-
rence to a high moral principle, he returned an
admirer of the man, and a zealous advocate of his
election."

XLI.

In the July following Mr. Lincoln's inaugura-
tion, an extra session of Congress was called. In
the message then sent in, speaking of secession, and
the measures taken by the Southern leaders to
bring it about, there occurs the following sentence :
" With rebellion thus sugar-coated, they have been
drugging the public mind of their section for more
than thirty years ; until, at length, they have
brought many good men to a willingness to take
up arms against the government," etc. Mr. De-
frees, the government printer, told me that, when
the message was being printed, he was a gocd deal
disturbed by the use of the term " sugar-coated, "
and finally went to the President about it. Their
relations to each other being of the most intimate
character, he told Mr. Lincoln frankly, that he
ou<rht to remember that a message to Congress
was a different affair from a speech at a mass-
meeting in Illinois ; that the messages became a
part of history, and should be written accordingly.

" What is the matter now ? " inquired the Presi-
dent.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 12"

"Why," said Mr. Defrees, "you have used an
undignified expression in the message ; " and then,
reading the paragraph aloud, he added, " I would
alter the structure of that, if I were you."

" Defrees," replied Mr. Lincoln, " that word
expresses precisely my idea, and I am not going to
change it, The time will never come in this coun-
try when the people won't know exactly what su-
gar-coated means ! "

On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Defrees told me,
a certain sentence of another message was very
awkwardly constructed. Calling the President's
attention to it in the proof-copy, the latter acknowl-
edged the force of the objection raised, and said,
" Go home, Defrees, and see if you can better it."
The next day Mr. Defrees took in to him his
amendment. Mr. Lincoln met him by saying :
" Seward found the same fault that you did, and
he has been rewriting the paragraph also." Then,
reading Mr. Defrees's version, he said, " I believe
you have beaten Seward ; but, ' I jings,' I think I
can beat you both." Then, taking up his pen, he
wrote the sentence as it was finally printed."

Mr. George E. Baker, Mr. Seward's private?
secretary, informed me that he was much amused
and interested in a phase of Mr. Lincoln's char-
acter which came under his own observation. It
was Mr. Baker's province to take to the Presi-
dent all public documents from the State Depart-
ment requiring his signature. During the first few

128 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

months, Mr. Lincoln would read each paper care
fully through, always remarking, " T never sign a
document I have not first read." As his cares
increased, he at length departed from his habit so
far as to say to the messenger, " Won't you road
these papers to me?" This went on for a few
months, and he then modified this practice by re-
questing " a synopsis of the contents." His tim*
became more and more curtailed, and for the las'
year his only expression was, " Show me where
you want my name ? "

It is not generally known that the speech always
made by the President, upon the presentation of s
foreign minister, is carefully written for him by the
Secretary of State. A clerk in the department
ignorant of this custom, was one day sent to thf
White House by Mr. Seward, wTith the speech t(
be delivered upon such an occasion. Mr. Lincoln
was writing at his desk, as the clerk entered — a
half-dozen senators and representatives occupying
the sofa and chairs. Unable to disguise a feeling
of delicacy, in the discharge of such an errand, the
young man approached, and in a low voice said to
the President : " The Secretary has sent the speech
you are to make to-day to the Swiss minister."
Mr. Lincoln laid down his pen, and, taking the
manuscript, said in a loud tone : " Oh, this is a
speech Mr. Seward has written for me, is it ? I
guess I will try it before these gentlemen, and see
how it goes." Thereupon he proceeded to read it,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 129

ill a waggish manner, remarking, as he concluded,
with sly humor : " There, I like that. It has the
merit of originality"

" Within a month after Mr. Lincoln's first acces-
sion to office," says the Hon. Mr. Raymond, " when
the South was threatening civil war, and armies
of office-seekers were besieging him in the Exec-
utive Mansion, he said to a friend that he wished
he could get time to attend to the Southern ques-
tion ; he thought he knew what was wanted, and
believed he could do something towards quieting
the rising discontent ; but the office - seekers de-
manded all his time. 4 1 am,' said he, 4 like a
man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his
house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is
burning the other.' Two or three years later,
when the people had made him a candidate for
reelection, the same friend spoke to him of a mem-
ber of his Cabinet who was a candidate also. Mr.
Lincoln said he did not concern himself much
about that. It was important to the country that
the department over which his rival presided should
be administered with vigor and energy, and what-
ever would stimulate the Secretary to such action

would do good. CR ,' said he, 'you were

brought up on a farm, wrere you not ? Then you
know what a chin fly is. My brother and I,' he
added, fc were once ploughing corn on a Kentucky
farm, I driving the horse, and he holding the
plough. The horse was lazy ; but on one occasion

130 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

rushed across the field so that I, with my long legs,
could scarcely keep pace with him. On reaching
the end of the furrow, I found an enormous chin
■fly fastened upon him, and knocked him off. My
brother asked me what I did that for. I told him
I didn't want the old horse bitten in that way
"Why," said my brother, "that 's all that made him

go!" Now,' said Mr. Lincoln, * if Mr. has a

presidential chin fly biting him, I 'm not going
to knock him off, if it will only make his depart-
ment go?

" On another occasion the President said he was
in great distress ; he had been to General McClel-
lan's house, and the General did not ask to see
him ; and as he must talk to somebody, he had sent
for General Franklin and myself, to obtain our
opinion as to the possibility of soon commencing ac-
tive operations with the Army of the Potomac. To
use his own expression, if something was not soon
done, the bottom would fall out of the whole affair ;
and if General McClellan did not want to use
the army, he would like to borrow it, provided
he could see how it could be made to do some-
thing." *

XLII.

One bright morning in May, the Sunday-school
children of the city of Washington, marching in
procession on anniversary day, passed in review

* Raymond's Life of Lincoln.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 131

thi oagh the portico on the north side of the White
House. The President stood at the open window
above the door, responding with a smile and a bow
to the lusty cheers of the little folks as they passed.
Hon. Mr. Odell, of Brooklyn, with one or two
other gentlemen, stood by his side as I joined the
group. It was a beautiful sight ; the rosy-checked
boys and girls, in their " Sunday's best," with
banners and flowers, all intent upon seeing the
President, and, as they caught sight of his tall
figure, cheering as if their very lives depended
upon it. After enjoying the scene for some time,
making pleasant remarks about a face that now
and then struck him, Mr. Lincoln said : " Mrs.
Ann S. Stephens told me a story last night about
Daniel Webster, when a lad, which was new to me,
and it has been running in my head all the morn-
ing. When quite young, at school, Daniel was one
day guilty of a gross violation of the rules. He
was detected in the act, and called up by the
teacher for punishment. This was to be the old-
fashioned 4 feruling ' of the hand. His hands hap-
pened to be very dirty. Knowing this, on his way
to the teacher's desk, he spit upon the palm of
his right hand, wiping it off upon the side of his
pantaloons. 4 Give me your hand, sir,' said the
teacher, very sternly. Out went the right hand,
partly cleansed. The teacher looked at it a mo-
ment, and said, ' Daniel, if you will find another
land in this school-room as filthy as that, I will let

132 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

you off this time ! ' Instantly from behind his
back came* the left hand. 4 Here it is, sir,' was the
ready reply. 4 That will do,' said the teacher,
4 for this time ; you can take your seat, sir.' ':

Mr. Lincoln's heart was always open to children.
I shall never forget his coming into the " studio "
one day, and finding my own little boy of two sum-
mers playing on the floor. A member of the Cab-
inet was with him, but laying aside all restraint, he
took the little fellow at once in his arms, and they
were soon on the best of terms.

Old Daniel — alluded to on a previous page
— gave me a touching illustration of this element
in his character. A poor woman from Philadel-
phia had been waiting with a baby in her arms for
several days to see the President. It appeared by
her story, that her husband had furnished a sub-
stitute for the army, but sometime afterward, in
a state of intoxication, was induced to enlist. Upon
reaching the post assigned his regiment, he de-
serted, thinking the government was not entitled
to his services. Returning home, he was arrested,
tried, convicted, and sentenced to be shot. The
sentence was to be executed on a Saturday. On
Monday his wife left her home with her baby, to
endeavor to see the President. Said Daniel, " She
had been waiting here three days, and there was
no chance for her to get in. Late in the after-
noon of the third day, the President was going
through the passage to his private room to get a

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 133

cup of tea. On the way he heard the baby cry.
He instantly went back to his office and rang the
bell. 4 Daniel,' said he, 4 is there a woman with a
baby in the anteroom ? ' I said there was, and if
he would allow me to say it, it was a case he ought
to see ; for it was a matter of life and death. Said
he, 'Send her to me at once.' She went in, told
her story, and the President pardoned her husband.
As the woman came out from his presence, her
eyes were lifted and her lips moving in prayer, the
tears streaming down her cheeks." Said Daniel,
44 1 went up to her, and pulling her shawl, said,
Madam, it was the baby that did it.' "

When Mr. Lincoln visited New i^ork in 1860,
he felt a great interest in. many of the institutions
for reforming criminals and saving the young from
a life of crime. Among others, he visited, unat-
tended, the Five Points' House of Industry, and
the Superintendent of the Sabbath-school there
gave the following account of the event : — ,

44 One Sunday morning, 1 saw a tall, remarkable-
looking man enter the room and take a seat among
us. He listened with fixed attention to our exer-
cises, and his countenance expressed such genuine
interest that I approached him and suggested that
he might be willing to say something to the chil-
dren. He accepted the invitation with evident
pleasure ; and, coming forward, began a simple
address, which at once fascinated every little hearer
and hushed the room into silence. His language

loi SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

was strikingly beautiful, and his tones musical with
intense feeling. The little faces would droop into
sad conviction as he uttered sentences of warning,
and would brighten into sunshine as he spoke cheer-
ful words of promise. Once or twice he attempted
to close his remarks, but the imperative shout of
' Go on ! Oh, do go on ! ' would compel him to
resume. As I looked upon the gaunt and sinewy
frame of the stranger, and marked his powerful
head and determined features, now touched into
softness by the impressions of the moment, I felt
an irrepressible curiosity to learn something more
about him, and while he was quietlv leaving the
room I begged to know his name. He courteouslv
replied, ' It is Abraham Lincoln, from Illinois.' "

Mr. Nelson Sizer, one of the gallery ushers of
Henry Ward Beecher's church in Brooklyn, told
me that about the time of the Cooper Institute
speech, Mr. Lincoln was twice present at the morn-
ing services of that church. On the first occasion,
he was accompanied by his friend, George B. Lin-
coln, Esq., and occupied a prominent seat in the
centre of the house. On a subsequent Sunday morn-
mg, not long afterwards, the church was packed, as
usual, and the services had proceeded to the an-
nouncement of the text, when the gallery door at
the right of the organ-loft opened, and the tall
figure of Mr. Lincoln entered, alone. Again in
the city over Sunday, he started out by himself to
find the church, which he reached considerablv

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 135

behind time. Ever} seat was occupied ; but the
gentlemanly usher at once surrendered his own, and,
stepping back, became much interested in watching
the effect of the sermon upon the western orator.
As Mr. Beecher developed his line of argument,
Mr. Lincoln's body swayed forward, his lips parted,
and he seemed at length entirely unconscious of his
surroundings, — frequently giving vent to his satis-
faction, at a well-put point or illustration, with a
kind of involuntary Indian exclamation, — "ugh!"
— not audible beyond his immediate presence, but
very expressive ! Mr. Lincoln henceforward had a
profound admiration for the talents of the famous
pastor of Plymouth Church. He once remarked
to the Rev. Henry M. Field, of New York, in my
presence, that " he thought there was not upon
record, in ancient or modern biography, so 'produc-
tive a mind, as had been exhibited in the career of
Henry Ward Beecher ! "

XLIII.

One of Mr. Lincoln's biographers, speaking of
the relations which existed between the President
and his Cabinet, says : —

" He always maintained that the proper duty of each
Secretary was to direct the details of everything done
•vithin his own department, and to tender such sugges-
tions, information, and advice to the President, as he
might solicit at his hands. But the duty and responsi-

136 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

bility of deciding what line ,of policy should be pursued
or what steps should be taken in any specific case, in his
judgment, belonged exclusively to the President ; and
he was always willing and ready to assume it." *

The suppression of a portion of Secretary Came-
ron's official report for 1861, is a case in point. A
number of printed copies of the report had left
Washington before the " incendiary " passage was
observed by Mr. Lincoln. The New York " Trib-
une " published it as originally wrritten. Late in
the evening of the day that these were sent, the
government printer took a copy to the President,
saying he thought he ought to look it over and see
if it was satisfactory. He stated, also, that a num-
ber of copies of the report had been already ordered
from the printing-office. Mr. Lincoln glanced over
the copy placed in his hands, and his eye rested
upon the passage in question, which had reference
to arming the slaves. Instantly he was aroused.
'" This will never do ! " said he. " Gen. Cameron
must take no such responsibility. That is a ques-
tion which belongs exclusively to me ! " Then,
with a pencil, he struck out the objectionable clause,
and ordered measures to be taken at once to sup-
press the copies already issued. This decided action
created considerable excitement at the time, as the
President's policy in reference to slavery had not
then been indicated. In the light of subsequent
history, it will be regarded as striking evidence oJ

* Hon. H. J. Raymond.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 137

the caution with which he felt his way on this intri-
cate and momentous question. In his own language,
in the letter to Col. Hodges, he objected, because
the indispensable necessity had not then arrived.
To Simon Cameron, however, the honor will ever
belong of being the first man connected with the
Administration to strike an official blow at the great
cause of the war.

Some time after the first battle of Bull Run, Gen-
eral Patterson, who had been severely censured for
his action, or want of action, on that occasion, called
upon Secretary Cameron, and demanded an investi-
gation of the causes of the failure of the campaign.'
After listening to his statement, the Secretary said
that he would like the President to see the orders
and correspondence, and an interview was accord-
ingly arranged for the same evening. The result
is given in General Patterson's own words : —

" I called at the hour named, was most kindly
received, and read the papers, to which the Presi-
dent attentively listened. When I had finished, Mr.
Lincoln said, in substance, ' General, I have never
found fault with you nor censured you ; I have
never been able to see that you could have done
anything else than you did do. You obeyed orders,
and I am satisfied with your conduct.' This was
said with a manner so frank, candid, and manly as
to secure my respect, confidence, and good- will. I
expressed my gratification with and sincere thanks
for his fairness toward me, and his courtesy in

138 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

hearing my case, — giving me some five hours o*
his time. I said that so far as he and the War De
partment were concerned I was satisfied ; but that
I must have a trial by my peers, to have a public
approval, and to stop the abuse daily lavished upon
me. The President replied that he would cheer-
fully accede to any practicable measure to do me
justice, but that I need not expect to escape abuse
as long as I was of any importance or value to the
community ; adding that he received infinitely more
abuse than I did, but that he had ceased to regard
it, and I must learn to do the same."

Although the friendly relations which existed
between the President and Secretary Cameron
were not interrupted by the retirement of the lat-
ter from the War Office, so important a change in
the Administration could not of course take place
without the irrepressible "story" from Mr. Lincoln.
Shortly after this event some gentlemen called
upon the President, and expressing much satisfac-
tion at the change, intimated that in their judg-
ment the interests of the country required an entire
reconstruction of the Cabinet. Mr. Lincoln heard
them through, and then shaking his head dubiously,
replied, with his peculiar smile : "Gentlemen, when
I was a young man I used to know very well one
Joe Wilson, who built himself a log-cabin not
far from where I lived, Joe was very fond of
eggs and chickens, and he took a good deal of pains
in fitting up a poultry shed. Having at length got

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUS 139

together a choice lot of young fowls, — of which he
was very proud, — he began to be much annoyed
by the depredations of those little black and white
spotted animals, which it is not necessary to name.
One night Joe was awakened by an unusual cack-
lino; and fluttering among his chickens. Getting
up, he crept out to see what was going on. Jt
was a bright moonlight night, and he soon caught

o Co7 ~

sight of half a dozen of the little pests, which with
their dam were running in and out of the shadow
of the shed. Very wrathy, Joe put a double
charge into his old musket, and thought he would
4 clean ' out the whole tribe at one shot. Somehow
he only killed one, and the balance scampered oil
across the field. In telling the story, Joe would
always pause here, and hold his nose. ' Why
did n't you follow them up, and kill the rest ? '
inquired the neighbors. ' Blast it,' said Joe, 'why,
it was eleven weeks before I got over killin' one.
If you want any more skirmishing in that h'ne you
can just do it yourselves ! ' "

XLIV.

The battle of Fair Oaks was fought May 31,
1862 ; or rather this .s the date of the first of the
series of battles before Richmond, when, as is
now abundantly established, even by Rebel testi-
mony, it would have been an easy matter for
McClellan to have captured what proved to be the

140 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Sebastopol of the Rebellion. During these terri-
ble battles, many of our wounded men were sent
on steamboats and transports to White House
landing, upon the estate of Mrs. Fitz Hugh Lee,
wile of the Rebel General. Prosper M. Wetmore,
of New York city, was, at this juncture, on a visit
lo the army. Very ill himself while on the Penin-
sula, his sympathies were greatly excited for the
wounded soldiers, confined, during the broiling
weather, to the boats, compelled to quench the
burning thirst created by their wounds with the
muddy water of the Pamunkey, which caused and
aggravated disease in a fearful manner. As a ci-
vilian, he was permitted to go on shore, and there
found the magnificent lawns and grounds, including
one of the finest springs of water in the world, all
under a protective guard, set over the property by
order of the commanding general ; and, while civil-
ians like himself were permitted freely to drink at
the spring, the suffering soldiers were prohibited
from approaching it! Mr. W.'s indignation was so
greatly aroused that, upon reaching Baltimore, on
his return home, he, with two other gentlemen,
cognizant of the facts, determined to go to Wash-
ington and lay the case before the War Depart-
ment. Upon hearing their statement, the Secre-
tary of War referred them to Surgeon-Generai
Hammond, saying that a requisition from him, to
the effect that the grounds of the estate were
needed for the wounded, would be instantly re-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 141

sponded to by the War Department in the issue of
the necessary order, taking possession. They im-
mediately waited upon the Surgeon-General, and
procured the document required, upon which Sec-
retary Stanton made out the order, saying, as he
signed it : " Now, gentlemen, you had better see
the President also about this matter, and get his
indorsement of the order." Proceeding to the
Executive Mansion, they found, as usual, the
waiting-rooms thronged with visitors ; but, rep-
resenting to the usher in attendance that their
business was extremely urgent, and concerned the
wounded of the army, they were at once shown
into Mr. Lincoln's presence. It was late in what
had perhaps been a trying or vexatious day. Very
briefly, but unceremoniously, the object of their

visit was stated. In the language of Mr. W ,

" The President listened to the account half impa-
tiently, saying, as the speaker concluded, with an
expression of countenance very like a sneer, 4 This
is another raid upon McClellan, I take it ! ' ' Mr.
President,' was the reply, ■ we came here to lay
these facts before you solely from a sense of duty.
Had I the power, sir, I would take possession of the
lawns in front of this mansion for the benefit of our
wounded men, so many of whom are now dying on
the Pamunkey, for wrant of pure air and water.
After the sights witnessed upon those seven steam-
boats now lying at White House, I covet every spot
of greensward my eyes rest upon. What I have

142 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

told you of the actual condition of things at that
landing is below the truth, as the gentlemen who
accompany me will confirm to your satisfaction.
For myself, allow me to say, sir, that I belong to
that political organization which opposed your elec-
tion to the Presidency — the same organization to
which General McClellan is presumed to belong.
This is no raid upon him or upon you. It is
simple justice to the wounded and suffering soldiers
that we ask of you.' Entirely convinced by the
candor of this reply, Mr. Lincoln then proceeded to
a minute questioning in regard to the scenes they
had witnessed ; and when subsequently told that
they had called at Secretary Stanton's request, to
secure his approval of the order issued, which em-
braced only the grounds and spring, i Not only
these,' said he, with emphasis, 4 but the order must
include the house, and everything else which can in
any way contribute to the comfort of the poor
boys ! ' And so the order was made to read before
it left Washington."

There is scarcely a parallel in history to the for-
bearance exhibited by the President toward Gen-
eral McClellan. The incident given above is but
one illustration of his impatience with those who
preferred charges against the " Commanding Gen-
eral." During the last year of his life, however,
in friendly conversation, he could not refrain some-
times from an impromptu sarcasm, nevertheless so
blended with wit that it must, one would think,
effectually disarm all resentment.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 143

About two weeks after the Chicago Convention,
the Rev. J. P. Thompson, of New York, called
upon the President, in company with the Assistant
Secretary of War, Mr. Dana. In the course of
conversation, Dr. T. said : " What do you think,
Mr. President, is the reason Genera] McClellan
does not reply to the letter from the Chicago Con*
vention ? " " Oh ! " replied Mr. Lincoln, with a
characteristic twinkle of the eye, "Ae is intrench-
ing."

XLV.

One Saturday afternoon, when the lawn in front
of the White House was crowded with people lis-
tening to the weekly concert of the Marine Band,
the President appeared upon the portico. Instantly
there was a clapping of hands and clamor for a
speech. Bowing his thanks, and excusing himself,
he stepped back into the retirement of the circular
parlor, remarking to me, with a disappointed air, as
lie reclined upon the sofa, " I wish they would let
me sit out there quietly, and enjoy the music." I
stated to him on this occasion, that I believed no
President, since the days of Washington, ever se-
cured the hearts of the people, and carried thero-
with him as he had done. To this he replied that,
m such a crisis as the country was then passing
through, it was natural that the people should look
more earnestly to their leaders than at other periods.
H\j thought their regard for any man in his position

144 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

who should sincerely have done his best to save the
government from destruction, would have been
equally as marked and .expressive ; to which I did
not by any means assent.

I do not recall an instance of Mr. Lincoln's ever
referring to any act of his administration with an
appearance of complacency or self-satisfaction. I
watched him closely during the political excitement
previous to the Baltimore Convention, to see if I
could discover signs of personal ambition, and I am
free to say that, apart from the welfare of the
country, there was no evidence to show to my
mind that he ever thought of himself. And yet
he was very sensitive to the opinions of his. friends.
A governor of a western State, true and loyal as
the best, at a certain juncture conceived himself for
some reason aggrieved by Executive action. Hav-
ing occasion to send in the names of two officers for
promotion, he said, in his note to the President,
that he hoped whatever feeling he m^ght have
against him personally would not prevent his- doing
justice to the merits of the officers in question.
Mr. Lincoln had been utterly unconscious of hav-
ing given offence, either by lack of appreciation or
otherwise, and he seemed greatly touched at the
aspersion. He said that, if he had been asked to
say which of all the loyal governors had been most
active and efficient in raising and equipping troops,
if he had made any distinction, where all had done
so well, it would have been in favor of the gov-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 145

ernor in question. At another time, when several
conflicting delegations were pressing the claims of
different candidates for a position of importance,
he said that he had been so troubled about the
matter that he had that day refused to see one of
the candidates, an old and dear personal friend, lest
his judgment should be warped. " If I was less
thin-skinned about such things," he added, " I
should set along: much better."

When he had thought profoundly, however, upon
certain measures, and felt sure of his ground, criti-
cism, either public or private, did not disturb him.
Upon the appearance of what was known as the
" "Wade and Davis manifesto," subsequent to his
renomination, an intimate friend and supporter,
who was very indignant that such a document
should have been put forth just previous to the
presidential election, took occasion to animadvert
very severely upon the course that prompted it.
" It is not worth fretting about," said the Presi-
dent ; " it reminds me of an old acquaintance, who,
having a son of a scientific turn, bought him a
microscope. The boy went around, experimenting
with his glass upon everything that came in his
way. One day, at the dinner-table, his father took
up a piece of cheese. ' Don't eat that, father,'
said the boy ; ' it is full of wrigglers.1 i My son,'
replied the old gentleman, taking, at the same time,
a huge bite, 4 let 'em wriggle ; I can stand it if they

10

146 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

No President ever manifested such a willingness
to receive and act upon advice and suggestions from
all sources, as Mr. Lincoln. On a certain occasion
a leading officer of the government, and the gov-
ernor of the State he represented, had each a can-
didate for a high State position. The claims of
both were urged with great strength. The Presi-
dent was "in a strait betwixt the two." A personal
friend from the same State, to whom he mentioned
the difficulty of deciding the question without giving
offence to one or the other of the parties, suggested
that he appoint neither of the candidates, but bestow
the office upon a certain officer of the army from
that State, who had distinguished himself, losing an
arm or a leg in the service, but who had not solicited
in any way the position. Mr. Lincoln instantly fell
in with the idea, saying that it seemed to him " just
the right thing to do ; " and he immediately made
out the nomination.

XL VI.

Among the numerous visitors on one of the Pres*
ident's reception days, were a party of Congress-
men, among whom was the Hon. Thomas Shannon,
of California. Soon after the customary greeting,
Mr. Shannon said : —

" Mr. President, I met an old friend of yours in
California last summer, Thompson Campbell, who
had a good deal to say of your Springfield life."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 147

* Ah ! " returned Mr. Lincoln, " I am glad to hear
rtf him. Campbell used to be a dry fellow," he
continued. " For a time he was Secretary of State.
One day, during the legislative vacation, a meek,
cadaverous-looking man, with a white neck-cloth,
introduced himself to him at his office, and, stating
that he had been informed that Mr. C. had the
letting of the Assembly Chamber, said that he
wished to secure it, if possible, for a course of lec-
tures he desired to deliver in Springfield. i May I
ask,' said the Secretary, ' what is to be the subject
of your lectures ? ' ' Certainly,' was the reply, with
a very solemn expression of countenance. 4 The
course I wish to deliver, is on the Second Coming
of our Lord.' c It is of no use,' said C. 4 If you
will take my advice, you will not waste your time
in this city. It is my private opinion that if the
Lord has been in Springfield once, He will not come
the second time ! ' "

Representative Shannon, previous to the war,
had been.an " Old Hunker" Democrat. Converted
by the Rebellion, he had gone to the other ex-
treme, and was one of the radical Abolitionists of
the Thirty-Eighth Congress. The last Sunday in
May, the Rev. Dr. Cheever, of New York, deliv-
ered one of his most pungent, denunciatory anti-
slavery discourses, in the Hall of the House of
Representatives. Among the numerous auditors at-
tracted by the name of the preacher, I noticed Mr.
Shannon, whose face was not often seen in church.

148 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

On the way to my hotel, we fell in together.
"Well, S.," said I, "what think you of that style
of preaching ? " "It was the first ' Gospel ' ser-
mon I ever heard in my life ! " was the emphatic
rejoinder.

One of Mr. Shannon's California colleagues, the
Hon. Mr. Higby, told me that having special busi-
ness one evening, which called him to the White
House, the President came into the office, dressed
for a state dinner. In the conversation which
followed, holding up his hands, encased in white
gloves, he remarked, with*a laugh, that one of his
Illinois friends never could see his hands in that
" predicament," without being reminded of " can-
vassed hams ! "

Mr. Lincoln was always ready to join in a laugh
at the expense of his person, concerning which he
was very indifferent. Many of his friends will
recognize the following story, — the incident having
actually occurred, — which he used to tell with
great glee : —

" In the days when I used to be ■ on the circuit,'
I was once accosted in the cars by a stranger, wTho
said, ' Excuse me, sir, but I have an article in my
possession wThich belongs to you.' l How is that? '
I asked, considerably astonished. The stranger
took a jack-knife from his pocket. ' This knife,'
said he, ' was placed in my hands some years ago,
with the injunction that I was to keep it until I
found a man uglier than myself. I have carried it

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 149

from that time to this. Allow me now to say,
sir, that I think you are fairly entitled to the prop-
erty.'"

XL VII.

I had been entered in the official chamber until
quite late one evening, upon some pencil studies
of accessories, necessary to introduce in my pict-
ure. The President, Mrs. Lincoln, and the Pri-
vate Secretaries had gone to the opera, and for the
time being I had undisturbed possession. Towards
twelve o'clock I heard some persons enter the
sleeping apartment occupied by Mr. Nicolay and
Major Hay, which was directly opposite the room
where I was sitting ; and shortly afterward the
hearty laugh of Mr. Lincoln broke the stillness,
proceeding from the same quarter. Throwing aside
my work, I went across the hall to see what had
occasioned this outbreak of merriment. The Sec-
retaries had come in and Hay had retired ; Mr.
Nicolay sat by the table with his boots off, and the
President was leaning over the " footboard " of
the bed, laughing and talking with the hilarity of a
schoolboy. It seemed that Hay, or " John," a3
the President called him, had met with a singular
adventure, which was the subject of the amuse-
ment. Glancing through the half-open door, Mr.
Lincoln caught sight of me, and the story had to
&e repeated for my benefit. The incident was

J 50 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

trifling in itself, but the President's enjoyment of it
was very exhilarating. I never saw him in so
frolicsome a mood as on this occasion.

It has been well said by a critic of Shakspeare,
that " the spirit which held the woe of 4 Lear,' and
the tragedy of i Hamlet,' would have broken, had
it not also had the humor of the ' Merry Wives
of Windsor,' and the merriment of 4 Midsummer
Night's Dream.' ' With equal justice can this
profound truth be applied to the late President.
The world has had no better illustration of it since
the immortal plays were written.

Mr. Lincoln's " laugh " stood by itself. The
"neigh" of a wild horse on his native prairie is not
more undisguised and hearty. A group of gentle-
men, among whom was his old Springfield friend and
associate, Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, were one day con-
versing in the passage near his office, while waiting
admission. A congressional delegation had pre-
ceded them, and presently an unmistakable voice
was heard through the partition, in a burst of
mirth. Mr. Arnold remarked, as the sound died
away : " That laugh has been the President's
life-preserver ! "

In a corner of his desk he kept a copy of the
latest humorous work ; and it was his habit when
greatly fatigued, annoyed, or depressed, to take
this up and read a chapter, frequently with great
relief.

Among the callers in the course of an evening

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 151

which I well remember, was a party composed of
two senators, a representative, an ex-lieutenant-gov-
ernor of a western State, and several private citizens.
They had business of great importance, involving the
necessity of the President's examination of volumi-
nous documents. He was at this time, from an un-
usual pressure of office-seekers, in addition to his
other cares, Jiterally worn otft. Pushing everything
aside, he sai 1 to one of the party : " Have you seen
the 4 Nasby Papers' ? " " No, I have not," was the
answer ; " who is ' Nasby ? ' " " There is a chap
put in Ohio," returned the President, " who has
been writing a series of letters in the newspapers
over the signature of l Petroleum V. Nasby.'
Some one sent me a pamphlet collection of them
the other day. I am going to write to 4 Petro-
leum ' to come down here, and I intend to tell him
if he will communicate his talent to me, I will
4 swap ' places with him." Thereupon he arose,
went to a drawer in his desk, and, taking out the
44 Letters," sat down and read one to the company
Ending in their enjoyment of it the temporary ex-
citement and relief which another man would have
found in a glass of wine. The instant he ceased,
the book was thrown aside, his countenance relapsed
into its habitual serious expression, and the business
before him was entered upon with the utmost ear-
nestness.

During the dark days of '62, the Hon. Mr.
A.shley, of Ohio, had occasion to call at the White

152 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE

House early one morning, just after news of a dis-
aster. Mr. Lincoln commenced some trifling nar-
ration, to which the impulsive congressman was in
no mood to listen. He rose to his feet and said :
" Mr. President, I did not come here this morning
to hear stories ; it is too serious a time." Instantly
the smile faded from Mr. Lincoln's face. " Ash-
ley," said he, "sit down! I respect. you as an
earnest, sincere man. You cannot be more anxious
than I have been constantly since the beginning of
the war ; and I say to you now, that were it not
for this occasional vent, I should die."

XLVIII.

About the first of June I received a call from
the Hon. Horace Greeley, who was temporarily in
Washington. Very near-sighted, his comments
upon my work, then about half completed, were not
particularly gratifying. Ha thought the steel like-
nesses in his book, " The American Conflict," were
much better. I called his attention, among other
points, to a newspaper introduced in the foreground
of the picture, "symbolizing," I said, "the agency
of the 'Press' in bringing about Emancipation ; "
— stating, at the same time, that this accessory was
studied from a copy of the " Tribune." Upon this
his face relaxed ; — "I would not object," said he,
" to your putting in my letter to the President on
that subject."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 153

Knowing that he had not been friendly to the
renomination of Mr. Lincoln, it occurred to me, in
my simplicity, that if I could bring them together,
an interview might result in clearing up what was,
perhaps, a mutual misunderstanding of relative
positions, — though I had never known Mr. Lin-
coln to mention the name of the editor of the
" Tribune," otherwise than with profound respect.
Leaving my visitor in front of the picture, I went
to the President's office to inform him of the pres-
ence of Mr. G. in the house, thinking that he
might deem it best, under the circumstances, to re-
ceive him below stairs. In this, however, I " reck-
oned without my host." He looked up quickly, as
I mentioned the name, but recovering himself, said,
with unusual blandness : " Please say to Mr. Gree-
ley that I shall be very happy to see him, at Ms
leisure."

I have been repeatedly asked to what extent Mr.
Lincoln read the newspapers. It might have damp-
ened the patriotic ardor of many ambitious editors,
could they have known that their elaborate disquisi-
tions, sent in such numbers to the White House, were
usually appropriated by the servants, and rarely,
or never, reached the one they were preeminently
intended to enlighten as to his duty and policy. I
recollect of but a single instance of newspaper read-
ing on the part of the President, during the entire
period of my intercourse with him. One evening,
having occasion to go to the Private Secretary's

154 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Dffice, supposing the rooms to be vacant, I came
upon Mr. Lincoln, seated quietly by himself, for
once engaged in looking over the contents of a
journal, which he had casually taken up.

The Washington dailies, — the " Chronicle,"
" Republican," and " Star," — were usually laid
upon his table, and I think he was in the habit of
glancing at the telegraphic reports of these ; but
rarely beyond this. All war news of importance,
of course, reached him previous to its publication.
He had, therefore, little occasion to consult news-
papers on this account. The Private Secretaries,
however, usually kept him informed of the principal
subjects discussed editorially in the leading organs
of the country.

The journals I became most familiar with, in the
Secretaries' quarters, besides those mentioned, were
the Philadelphia "Press" and "North American ;"
the Baltimore " American " and M Sun ; " the New
York " Tribune," "Evening Post," "Independent,"
" Times," " Herald," and " World ; " the Albany
" Evening Journal ; " the Boston " Advertiser,"
"Journal," and "Transcript;" the Chicago " Trib-
une " and " Journal," (the latter valued chiefly for
the letters of its war correspondent, B. F. Taylor) ;
the St. Louis " Republican " and " Democrat ; "
and the Cincinnati " Gazette " and " Commercial."

Violent criticism, attacks, and denunciations, com-
ing either from radicals or conservatives, rarely
ruffled the President, if thev reached his ears. It

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 155

must liave been in connection with something of
this kind, that he once told me this story. " Some
years ago," said he, " a couple of ' emigrants,'
fresh from the £ Emerald Isle,' seeking labor, were
making their way toward the West. Coming
suddenly, one evening, upon a pond of water, they
were greeted with a grand chorus of bull-frogs, —
a kind of music they had never before heard.
4 B-a-u-m ! ' — i B-a-u-m ! ' Overcome with ter-
ror, they clutched their ' shillelahs,' and crept cau-
tiously forward, straining their eyes in every direc-
tion, to catch a glimpse of the enemy ; but he was
not to be found ! At last a happy idea seized the
foremost one, — he sprang to his companion and
exclaimed, ' And sure, Jamie ! it is my opinion it's
nothing but a " noise ! " ' "

On a certain occasion, the President was induced
by a committee of gentlemen to examine a newly
invented "repeating" gun ; the peculiarity of which
was, that it prevented the escape of gas. After
due inspection, he said : " Well, I believe this really
does what it is represented to do. Now have any
of you heard of any machine, or invention, for pre-
venting the escape of i gas ' from newspaper estab-
lishments ? "

One afternoon he came into the studio, while
Mrs. Secretary Welles and a party of friends were
viewing the picture. Mrs. Welles said that she
st understood from the newspapers that the w„ork
was nearly completed ; which appeared to be far

156 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

from the truth." In reply, I made th? common
place remark, that the " papers " were not always
" reliable.'" " That is to say, Mrs. Welles," broke
in the President, " they « lief and then they 4 re-
lie ! ' "

At one of the " levees," in the winter of 1864,
during a lull in the hand-shaking, Mr. Lincoln was
addressed by two lady friends, one of whom is the
wife of a gentleman subsequently called into the
Cabinet. Turning to them with a weary air, he
remarked that it was a relief to have now and then
those to talk to who had no favors to ask. The
lady referred to is a radical, — a New Yorker by
birth, but for many years a resident of the West.
She replied, playfully, " Mr. President, I have one
request to make." "Ah ! " said he, at once looking
grave. " Well, what is it ? " " That you suppress
the infamous ' Chicago Times,' " was the rejoinder.
After a brief pause, Mr. Lincoln asked her if she
nad ever tried to imagine how she would have felt,
in some former administration to which she was
opposed, if her favorite newspaper had been seized
by the government, and suppressed. The lady
replied that it was not a parallel case ; that in
circumstances like those then existing, when the
nation was struggling for its very life, such utter-
ances as were daily put forth in that journal should
be suppressed by the strong hand of authority ; that
the 'cause of loyalty and good government demanded
it. " I fear you do not fully comprehend," returned

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 157

the President, "the danger of abridging the liber-
ties of the people. Nothing but the very sternest
necessity can ever justify it. A government had
better go to the very extreme of toleration, than
to do aught that could be construed into an inter-
ference with, or to jeopardize in any degree, the
common rights of its citizens."

XLIX.

A morning or two after the visit of Mr. Greeley,
1 was called upon by a gentleman, who requested
my assistance in securing a brief interview with
the President, for the purpose of presenting him
with an elaborate pen-and-ink " allegorical, sym-
bolic " representation of the " Emancipation Proc-
lamation ; " which, in a massive carved frame, had
been purchased at a recent " Sanitary Fair," in
one of the large citjes, by a committee of gentle-
men, expressly for this object. The composition
contained a tree, representing Liberty ; a portrait
of Mr. Lincoln ; soldiers, monitors, broken fetters,
etc. ; together with the text of the proclamation,
all executed with a pen. Artistically speaking,
such works have no value, — they are simply
interesting, as curiosities. Mr. Lincoln kindly
accorded the desired opportunity to make the
presentation, which occupied but a few moments,
and was in the usual form. He accepted the
testimonial, he said, not for himself, but in be-

158 SrX M0N1HS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

half of " the cause in which all were engaged."
When the group dispersed, I remained with the
President. He returned to his desk ; while I ex-
amined curiously the pen work, which was
exceedingly minute in detail. " This is quite won-
derful ! " I said, at length. Mr. Lincoln looked up
from his papers ; " Yes," he rejoined ; " it is
what I call ingenious nonsense ! "

The evening following this affair, on entering the
President's office, about eleven o'clock, I found
him alone, seated at the long table, with a large
pile of military commissions before him, which he
was signing one by one. As I sat down beside him,
he presently remarked, " I do not, as you see,
pretend to read over these documents. I see that
Stanton has signed them, so I conclude they are
all right." Pausing here, he read a portion of one,

beginning with the name of the individual, "

is hereby appointed adjutant-general, with the

rank of captain, etc. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of
War." " There," said he, appending his own sig-
nature in the opposite corner ; " that fixes him
out." Thus he went on chatting and writing,
until he had finished the lot ; then, rising from his
chair, he stretched himself, and said, " Well, I
have got that job husked out; now I guess I
will go over to the War Department before I go
to bed, and see if there is any news. Walking
over with him at his request, — to divert his mind,
I repeated a story told me the night previous con-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 15!>

periling a 'contraband' who had fallen into the
hands of some good pious people, and was being
taught by them to read and pray. Going off by
himself one day, he was overheard to commence a
prayer by the introduction of himself as " Jim
Williams — a berry good nigga' to wash windows ;
'spec's you know me now ? ' "

An amusing; illustration of the fact that whatever
the nature of an incident related to the President,
it never failed to remind him of something
similar, followed. After a hearty laugh at what
he called this " direct way of putting the case,"
he said : " The story that suggests to me, has no
resemblance to it save in the ' washing windows '
part. A lady in Philadelphia had a pet poodle dog,
which mysteriously disappeared. Rewards were
offered for him, and a great ado made without
effect. Some weeks passed, and all hope of the
favorite's return had been given up, when a servant
brought him in one day, in the filthiest condition
imaginable. The lady was overjoyed to see her pet
again, but horrified at his appearance. 4 Where
did you find him ? ' she exclaimed. ' Oh,' replic I
the man, very unconcernedly, ' a negro down the
street had him tied to the end of a pole, swab-
bing windows.' "

160 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

L.

A day or two previous to the meeting of the
Republican Convention, the President read me his
letter to the " Owen Lovejoy Monument Associa-
tion,"— lately written, and not then published, — in
which he expressed his appreciation of Mr. Lovejoy
in nearly the same language I had heard him use
on a former occasion. " Throughout my heavy
and perplexing responsibilities here," ran the letter,
44 to the day of his death, it would scarcely wrong
any other to say he was my most generous friend.
Let him have the marble monument, along with
the well assured and more enduring one in the
hearts of those who love liberty unselfishly for all
men." A noble tribute, in fitly chosen words !

The evening following the reading of this letter,
he said that Mrs. Lincoln and he had promised
half an hour to a sort of " artist " who wished to
"exhibit" before them in the red-room below.
" What kind of an artist ? " I inquired. " Oh, not
in your line," he answered ; " I think he is a sort
of mountebank, or comic lecturer, or something
of the kind." On my way to my own room,
I met in the passage the well-known " Jeems
Pipes of Pipesville," — otherwise Stephen Mas-
sett, — whom I at once conjectured to be the indi-
vidual the President had referred to. The two
rooms communicating by double doors, I could not
well avoid overhearing a portion of the perform-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE- HOUSE. 161

aiice, or more properly lecture, which I think was
announced by the title of "Drifting About.4'
Comic imitations of various characters were given,
among others that of a stammering man, which
appeared greatly to amuse Mr. Lincoln. I could
only now and then catch a word of the burlesque,
but the voice and ringing laugh of the President
were perfectly distinguishable. When the "lecture"
ceased, Mr. Lincoln said, " I want to offer a sug-
gestion. I once knew a man who invariably ' whis-
tled ' with his stammering," and he then gave an
imitation. " Now," he continued, " if you could
get in a touch of nature like that it would be
irresistibly ludicrous." "Pipes" applauded the
amendment, rehearsing it several times, until he
had mastered it to the President's satisfaction ; and
I dare say the innovation became a part of all sub-
sequent performances.

About this period numerous delegations from
various religious bodies and associations throno-ed
the White House. Among the number none met
so cordial a reception as that of the " Christian
Commission," composed of volunteer clergymen
who had just returned from the Wilderness battle*
ground. In the brief address by the chairman of
the occasion, he stated that the group before the
President embraced those who had been first on
the field to offer aid and refreshments to the
wounded of that terrible series of battles. In re-
Dry Mr. Lincoln expressed his appreciation of the
11

162 SIX MOUTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

self-denying services rendered by the Commis-
sion, in feeling terms. He concluded his response
in these words : " And I desire also to add to what
I have said, that there is one association whose
object and motives I have never heard in any de-
gree impugned or questioned ; and that is the
' Christian Commission.* And in ' these days of
villany,' as Shakspeare says, that is a record,
gentlemen, of which you may justly be proud ! "
Upon the conclusion of the u ceremony," he added,
in a conversational tone, " I believe, however, it is
old ' Jack Falstaff ' who talks about l villany,*
though of course Shakspeare is responsible."

After the customary hand- shaking, which fol-
lowed, several gentlemen came forward and asked
the President for his autograph. One of them gave
his name as " Cruikshank." " That reminds me,"
said Mr. Lincoln, " of what I used to be called
when a young man — 8 long-shanks.* * Hereupon
the rest of the party, emboldened by the success
of the few, crowded around the desk, and the Pres-
ident good naturedly wrote his name for each ; the
scene suggesting forcibly to my mind a country
schoolmaster's weekly distribution of tw tickets "
among his pupils.

LI.

The " Baltimore Convention," which renomi-
nated Mr. Lincoln, was convened June 7, 1864

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 163

Ft created comparatively little excitement in Wash-
ington or elsewhere, as the action of the various
S+ate legislatures and local mass meetings had pre-
pared the public mind for the result.

Toward evening of the 8th, — the day the nomi-
nations were made, — Major Hay and myself were
[done with the President in his office. He did not
seem in any degree exhilarated by the action of the
convention ; on the contrary, his manner was sub-
dued, if not sad. Upon the lighting of the gas, he
told us how he had that afternoon received the
news of the nomination for Vice-President before
he heard of his own. It appeared that the de-
spatch announcing his renomination had been sent
to his office from the War Department while he
was at lunch. Afterward, without going back to
(he official chamber, he proceeded to the War De-
partment. While there, the telegram came in
announcing the nomination of Johnson. " What ! "
said he to the operator, u do they nominate a Vice-
President before they do a President ? " " Why! "
rejoined the astonished official, " have you not
heard of your own nomination ? It was sent to
the White House two hours ago." " It is all
right," was the reply ; u I shall probably find it
on my return."

Laughing pleasantly over this incident, he said,
soon afterward, — " A very singular occurrence took
place the day I was nominated at Chicago, foui
years ago, of which I am reminded t>night. In

164 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the afternoon of the day, returning home from
down town, I went up-stairs to Mrs. Lincoln's
sitting-room. Feeling somewhat tired, I lay down
upon a couch in the room, directly opposite a bureau
upon which was a looking-glass. As I reclined,
my eye fell upon the glass, and I saw distinctly two
images of myself, exactly alike, except that one was
a little paler than the other. I arose, and lay down
again, with the same result. It made me quite
uncomfortable for a few moments, but some friends
coming in, the matter passed out of my mind. The
next day, while walking in the street, I was sud-
denly reminded of the circumstance, and the disa-
greeable sensation produced by it returned. I had
never seen anything of the kind before, and did not
know what to make of it. I determined to go
home and place myself in the same position, and if
the same effect was produced, I would make up my
mind that it was the natural result of some principle
of refraction or optics which I did not understand,
and dismiss it. I tried the experiment, with a like
result ; and, as I had said to myself, accounting for
it on some principle unknown to me, it ceased to
trouble me. But," said he, " some time ago, I
tried to produce the same effect here, by arranging
a glass and couch in the same position, without
success." He did not say, at this time, that either
he or Mrs. Lincoln attached any omen to the phe-
nomenon ; neither did he say that the double
reflection was seen while he was walking about the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 165

room. On the contrary, it was only visible in a
certain position and at a certain angle ; and there-
fore, he thought, could be accounted for upon scien-
tific principles.*

A little later in the evening, the Hon. Mr. Kel-
ley, of Philadelphia, came in. As he sat down, he
took a letter out of his pocket, saying : " Mr. Presi-
dent, while on a visit home, a week or two ago, I
took up a number of the " An ti- Slavery Standard,"
in which there happened to be a communication
from Mrs. Caroline H. Dall, of Boston, giving
her views of the Fremont movement, and the
situation generally ; so admirable in its tone and
spirit, that I could not resist the inclination to write
to the author, expressing the interest with which I
had read the article. The result was a reply, which
I hold in my hand, which seems to me so just and
able a statement of your position, from the stand-
point of a true woman, that I -have brought it up to
read to you." Mr. Lincoln nodded assent, and lis-

* Mr. Lincoln's friend Brooks, of the Sacramento Union, has given
to the public a somewhat different version of this story, placing its
occurrence on the day of the election in 1860. The account, as I
*iave given it, was written before I had seen that by Mr. Brooks, and
is very nearly as Hay and myself heard it, — the incident making a
powerful impression upon my mind. I am quite confident that Mr.
Lincoln said it occurred the day he was first nominated; for hf
related it to us a few hours after having received intelligence of his
renomination, saying, "I am reminded of it to-night." It is possible,
however, that I am mistaken in the date. Mr. Brooks's statement
*hat " Mrs. Lincoln " was " troubled " about it, regarding it as a " sign
that Mr. Lincoln would be reelected, but would not live through hi»
»econd term," is undoubtedly correct.

166 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

tened pensively to the eloquent tones of the Con-
gressman's voice, who entered into the spirit of the
letter with his whole heart, — affirming, as it did,
unwavering confidence in the President ; the sin-
cerity of his anti-slavery convictions and purposes ;
and appreciation of the difficulties which had en-
vironed him, — presenting, in this respect, a marked
contrast to the letters and speeches of many of the
so-called radicals. Mr. Lincoln said but little,
as Judge Kelley concluded ; but one or two ex-
pressions, and the manner accompanying them,
showed that the sentiments of the writer of the
letter were gratefully appreciated.

The day following the adjournment at Baltimore,
various political organizations called to pay their
respects to the President. First came the Conven-
tion Committee, embracing one from each State rep-
resented,— appointed to announce to him, formally,
the nomination. Next came the Ohio delegation,
with Menter's Band, of Cincinnati. Following
these were the representatives of the National
Union League, to whom he said, in concluding his
brief response : —

"I do not allow myself to suppose that either
the Convention, or the League, have concluded to
decide that I am either the greatest or the best man
ill America ; but, rather, they have concluded that
it is not best to swap horses while crossing the
river, and have further concluded that I am not so
poor a horse, but that they might make a botch
of it in trying to swap ! "

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 167

Another incident, which occurred in the course
of the day, created considerable amusement. When
the Philadelphia delegation was being presented,
the chairman of that body, in introducing one of
the members, said : " Mr. President, this is Mr.

S , of the Second District of our State, —

a most active and earnest friend of yours and the
cause. He has, among other things, been good
enough to paint, and present to our League rooms,
a most beautiful portrait of yourself." Mr. Lincoln
took the gentleman's hand in his, and shaking it
cordially, said with a merry voice, — "I presume,
sir, in painting your beautiful portrait, you took
your idea of me from my principles, and not from
my person."

Among the visitors, the same afternoon, were
William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Tilton. In
the " Editorial Notes," concerning the convention
and nominations, in his newspaper, the New York
" Independent," the following week, Mr. Tilton
wrote : —

" On his reception day, the President's face wore
an expression of satisfaction rather than elation.
His reception of Mr. Garrison was an equal honor
to host and guest. In alluding to our failure to
find the old jail, he said, — ' Well, Mr. Garrison,
when you first went to Baltimore you couldn't get
out; but the second time you couldn't get in!9
When one of us mentioned the great enthusiasm at
the convention, after Senator Morgan s proposition

168 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

to amend the Constitution, abolishing slavery, Mr.
Lincoln instantly said, — ' It was I who suggested
to Mr. Morgan that he should put that idea into his
opening speech.' This was the very best word he
has said since the proclamation of freedom."

LII.

. I have alluded, on a previous page, to the public
concerts of the Marine Band, — from the Wash-
ington Navy-yard, — given every Saturday after-
noon, during the summer, on the grounds in front
of the White House ; which, on such occasions,
were thronged with visitors. The Saturday follow-
ing the nominations I invited my friend Cropsey,
the landscape-painter, from New York, — who, with
his wife, was spending a few days in the city, — to
come up with Mrs. C. to the studio, which over-
looked the pleasure-grounds, and presented a fine
opportunity of enjoying both spectacle and music.
The invitation was accepted, and the afternoon was
devoted to my guests.

Towards the close of the concert the door sud-
denly opened, and the President came in, as he
was in the habit of doing, alone. Mr. and Mrs.
Cropsey had been presented to him in the course
of the morning ; and as he came forward, half
hesitatingly, Mrs. C, who held a bunch of beauti-
ful flowers in her hand, tripped forward plavfully,
and said : " Allow me, Mr. President, to present

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 169

you with a bouquet ! " The situation was momen-
tarily embarrassing ; and I was puzzled to know
how " His Excellency " would get out of it. With
no appearance of discomposure, he stooped down,
took the flowers, and, looking from them into the
sparkling eyes and radiant face of the lady, said,
with a gallantry I was unprepared for, — " Really,
madam, if you give them to me, and they are mine,
I think I cannot possibly make so good a use of
them as to present them to you, in return ! "
Chesterfield could not have extricated himself from
the dilemma with more tact and address ; and the
incident, trifling in itself, may serve to illustrate
that there existed in the ci-devant " rail-splitter''
and " flat-boatman " — uncouth and half-civilized as
many supposed him — the essential elements of the
true gentleman.

I was always touched by the President's manner
of receiving the salute of the guard at the White
House. Whenever he appeared in the portico, on
his way to or from the War or Treasury Depart-
ment, or on any excursion down the avenue, the
first glimpse of him was, of course, the signal for
the sentinel on duty to " present arms." This was
always acknowledged by Mr. Lincoln with a pecul-
iar bow and touch of the hat, no matter how many
times it might occur in -the course of a day ; and
it always seemed to me as much a compliment to
the devotion of the soldiers, on his part, as it was
the sign of duty nnd deference on the r>art of the
guard.

170 SEX MONTHS AT THE WHITE LOUSE.

The Hon. Mr. Odell gave me a deeply interest-
ing incident, which occurred in the winter of 1864,
nt one of the most crowded of the Presidential
levees, illustrating very perfectly Mr. Lincoln's
true politeness and delicacy of feeling.

On the occasion referred to, the pressure became
so great that the usual ceremony of hand-shaking
was, for once, discontinued. The President had
been standing for some time, bowing his acknowl-
edgments to the thronging multitude, when his eye
fell upon a couple who had entered unobserved, —
a wounded soldier, and his plainly dressed mother.
Before they could pass out, he made his way to
where they stood, and, taking each of them by the
hand, with a delicacy and cordiality which brought
tears to many eyes, he assured them of his inter-
est and welcome. Governors, senators, diplomats,
passed with simply a nod ; but that pale young face
he might never see again. To him, and to others
like him, did the nation owe its life ; and Abraham
Lincoln was not the man to forget this, even in the
crowded and brilliant assembly of the distinguished
of the land.

Lin.

The opinion of the Attorney-General, Judge
Bates, as to the safety of'Mr. Lincoln's being in-
trusted with the pardoning power, was founded
upon an intimate knowledge of the man. A nature
of such tenderness and humanity would have been

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 171

in danger of erring on what manv would call the
weak side, had it not been balanced by an un-
usual degree of strong practical good sense and
judgment.

The Secretary of War, and generals in com-
mand, were frequently much annoyed at being
overruled, — the discipline and efficiency of the
service being thereby, as they considered, greatly
endangered. But there was no £om2 back of the

JO o o

simple signature, " A. Lincoln," attached to proc-
lamation or reprieve.

The Hon. Mr. Kellogg, representative from Es-
sex County, New York, received a despatch one,
evening from the army, to the effect that a young
townsman, who had been induced to enlist through
his instrumentality, had, for a serious misdemeanor,
been convicted by a court-martial, and was to be
shot the next day. Greatly agitated, Mr. Kellogg
went to the Secretary of War, and urged, in the
strongest manner, a reprieve. Stanton was inex-
orable. " Too many cases of the kind had been
let off," he said ; " and it was time an example
was made." Exhausting his eloquence in vain,
Mr. Kellogg said, — " Well, Mr. Secretary, the
boy is not going to be shot, — of that I give you
fair warning ! " Leaving the War Department, he
went directly to the White House, although the
hour was late. The sentinel on duty told him that
special orders had been issued to admit no one
whatever that night. After a long parley, by

172 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

pledging himself to assume the responsibility of
the act, the congressman passed in. The Presi-
dent had retired ; but, indifferent to etiquette or
ceremony, Judge Kellogg pressed his way through
all obstacles to his sleeping apartment. In an ex-
cited manner he stated that the despatch announcing
the hour of execution -had but just reached him.
" This man must not be shot, Mr. President," said
be. " I can't help what he may have done. Why,
he is an old neighbor of mine ; I can't allow him
to be shot ! " Mr. Lincoln had remained in bed,
quietly listening to the vehement protestations of
Jus old friend, (they were in Congress together.)
lie at length said : " Well, I don't believe shooting
him will do him any good. Give me that pen."
And, so saying, " red tape " was unceremoniously
cut, and another poor fellow's lease of life was
indefinitely extended.

One night Speaker Colfax left all other business
to ask the President to respite the son of a constitu-
ent, who was sentenced to be shot, at Davenport,
for desertion. He heard the story with his usual
patience, though he was wearied out with incessant
calls, and anxious for rest, and then replied : " Some
of our generals complain that I impair discipline
and subordination in the army by my pardons and
respites, but it makes me rested, after a hard day's
work, if 1 can find some good excuse for savins a
man's life, and I go to bed happy as I think how
joyous the signing of my name will make him and
his family and his friends."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 173

Mr. Van Alen, of New York, in an account fur-
nished the " Evening Post," wrote : " I well re-
member the case of a poor woman who sought,
With the persistent affection of a mother, for the
pardon of her son condemned to death. She was
successful in her petition. When she had left the
room, Mr. Lincoln turned to me and said : 4 Per-
haps I have done wrong, but at all events I have
made that poor woman happy.' "

The Hon. Thaddeus Stevens told me that on one
occasion he called at the White House with an
elderly lady, in great trouble, whose son had been
in the army, but for some offence had been court-
martialled, and sentenced either to death, or impris-
onment at hard labor for a long term. There were
some extenuating circumstances ; and after a full
hearing, the President turned to the representative,
and said : " Mr. Stevens, do you think this is a case
which will warrant my interference ? " " With my
knowledge of the facts and the parties,'' was the
reply, " I should have no hesitation in granting a
pardon." " Then," returned Mr. Lincoln, " I
will pardon him," and he proceeded forthwith to
execute the paper. The gratitude of the mother
was too deep for expression, and not a word was
said between her and Mr. Stevens until they were
half way down the stairs on their passage out, when
she suddenly broke forth in an excited manner with
the words, " I knew it was a copperhead lie ! "
M What do you refer to, madam ? " asked Mr. Ste-

174 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

vens. " Why, they told me he was an ugly look-
ing man," she replied, with vehemence. " He is
the handsomest man I ever saw in my life ! " And
surely for that mother, and for many another
throughout the land, no carved statue of ancient or
modern art, in all its symmetry, can have the
charm which will for evermore encircle that care-
worn but gentle face, expressing as lineaments of
ruler never expressed before, " Malice towards none
— Charity for all."

Though kind-hearted almost to a fault, neverthe-
less Mr. Lincoln always endeavored to be just.
The Hon. 6. F. Miller, of New York, called upon
him one dav witli the brother of a deserter who
had been arrested. The excuse was that the soldier
had been home on a sick-furlough, and that he
afterwards became partially insane, and had conse-
quently failed to return and report in proper time.
He was on his way to his regiment at the front to
be tried. The President at once ordered him to be
stopped at Alexandria and sent before a board of sur-
geons for examination as to the question of insanity.
" This seemed to me so proper," said the represent-
ative, tw that I expressed myself satisfied. But on
going out, the brother, who was anxious for an im-
mediate discharge, said to me, l The trouble with
your President is, that he is so afraid of doing
something wrong.' "

A young man, connected with a New York regi-
ment, had become to all appearance a hardened

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 175

criminal. He had deserted two or three times,
and, when at last detected and imprisoned, had
attempted to poison his guards, one of whom subse-
quently died from the effects of the poison uncon-
sciously taken. Of course, there seemed no defence
possible in such a case. But the fact came out that
the boy had been of unsound mind. Some friends
of his mother took up the matter, and an appeal
was made to the Secretary of War. He declined,
positively, to listen to it, — the case was too aggra-
vating. The prisoner (scarcely more than a boy)
was confined at Elmira, New York. ■ The day for
the execution of his sentence had nearly arrived,
when his mother made her way to the President.
He listened to her story, examined the record, and
said that his opinion accorded with that of the
Secretary of War; he could do nothing for her.
Heart-broken, she was compelled to relinquish her
last hope. One of the friends who had become
interested, upon learning the result of the applica-
tion, waited upon Senator Harris. That gentleman
said that his engagements utterly precluded his
going to see the President upon the subject, until
twelve o'clock of the second night following. This
brought the time to Wednesday night, and the sen-
tence was to be executed on Thursday. Judge
Hairis, true to his word, called at the White House
at twelve o'clock Wednesday night. The President
had retired, but the interview was granted. The
point made was that the boy was insane, — thus

17t) SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HuUSE.

irresponsible, and his execution would be murder. '
Pardon was not asked, but a reprieve, unti] a
proper medical examination could be made. This
was so reasonable that Mr. Lincoln acquiesced in
its justice. He immediately ordered a telegram
sent to Elmira, delaying the execution of the sen-
tence. Early the next morning he sent another,
by a different line, and, before the hour of execu-
tion arrived, he had sent no less than/owr different
reprieves, by different lines, to different indi-
viduals in Elmira, so fearful was he that the mes-
sage would fail, or be too late.

This incident suggests another, similar only, how-
ever, in the fact that both boys were alleged to be
irresponsible. A washerwoman in Troy had a
son nearly imbecile as to intellect, yet of good
physical proportions. The boy was kidnapped, or
inveigled away by some scoundrels, who " enlisted "
him, dividing his bounty among themselves. For
some time his mother could learn nothing of him.
At length she was told that he was in the army.
Alone and unfriended she wTent to Washington to
see, in her simplicity, if she could not get his dis-
charge. The gentleman who related the circum-
stance to me said that she did not even know to
which of the New York regiments her son belonged.
She could get no chance to speak to the President.
At length she watched her opportunity, and inter-
cepted him on his way from the War Department.
The ^sult was, that taking down the lad's name

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 177

and place of residence, this message was written on
the back of the card, and sent to the War Depart-
ment : —

"This poor boy is said to be idiotic. Find him, if
possible, and return him to his mother.

A. Lincoln."

M Calling," says Mr. Colfax, " upon the President
one morning in the winter of 1863, I found him
looking more than usually pale an<d careworn, and
inquired the reason. He replied, with the bad
news he had received at a late hour the previous
night, which had not yet been communicated to the
press, — he had not closed his eyes or breakfasted ;
and, with an expression I shall never forget, he
exclaimed, fc How willingly would I exchange places
to-day with the soldier who sleeps on the ground in
the Army of the Potomac' "

And yet, in the face of such evidence, showing
how the great sympathy and sorrow of the late
President took hold upon the very roots and springs
of his nature, there are not found wanting assertions
that he showed a criminal indifference to the suffer-
ings of our prisoners at Libby, Andersonville, and
other places ; and, in proof of this, it is stated that
there is no record of his ever alluding to the subject
in any of his public addresses or messages. The
questions involved in the suspension of the exchange
of prisoners are difficult of decision. Whoever
was the cause of this, certainly has a fearful respon-

12

1T8 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

sibility. That it was the President's fault, I do not
believe. When the reports, in an authentic form,
first reached Washington of the sufferings of the
Union prisoners, I know he was greatly excited
and overcome by them. He was told that jus-
tice demanded a stern retaliation. He said to hie
friend Mr. Odell, with the deepest emotion : " Z
can never, never starve men like that!''' "What-
ever others may say or do, I never can, and 1
never will, be accessory to such treatment of human
beings!" And although he spoke with the deep-
est feeling at the Baltimore Fair of the Fort Pillow
massacre, and pledged retaliation, yet that pledge
was never carried into execution. It was simply
impossible for Mr. Lincoln to be cruel or vindictive,
no matter what the occasion. In the serene light
of history, when party strife and bitterness shall
have passed away, it will be seen that, if he erred
at all, it was always on the side of mercy and mag-
nanimity.

LTV.

At a private dinner-party at Willard's Hotel,
given by Charles Gould, Esq., of New York, 1
met for the first time the Hon. Hugh McCulloch,
then Comptroller of the Currency. An ac-
quaintance commenced, under circumstances calcu-
lated to inspire in me a sentiment of profound
respect for this gentleman's character and talents.
I was much interested, a few days afterward, in an

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 179

incident in the career of Mr. McCulloch, given me
by the Rev. John Pierpont, who was an occasional
visitor at the studio, and who, in his hale old age,
was occupying one of ths subordinate positions in
the Department.

The desk at which Dr. Pierpont was occupied
was in a room with those of a large number of other
clerks, among whom the tall figure, and silvery
beard of the poet-preacher were very conspicuous.
One day, just after Mr. McCulloch had entered
upon his duties in Washington, it was announced
at the entrance of this room, that the new Comp-
troller had called to see "Dr. Pierpont." The
clerks looked up from their books, and at one
another, inquiringly, as Mr. McCulloch took a seat
by the poet's desk. " I perceive, Dr. Pierpont,"
said he, " that you do not remember me ? " The
venerable preacher looked at him a moment, and
replied that he did not think he ever had seen him
before. " Oh yes, you have," returned the Comp-
troller ; " I was a member of Class, in Cam-
bridge, in 1833 and '34, and used to hear you
preach. Upon leaving the Law School, purposing to
take up my residence at the West, I called upon
you and requested one or two letters of introduc-
tion to parties in Cincinnati. You gave me two

letters, one to a Mr. S , and the other to a Mr.

G , of that city. Those letters, my dear sir,

were the stepping-stones to my fortune. I have
uot seen you since ; but learning that you were in

180 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Washington, I told my wife, upon leaving home to
take the positior. offered me here, that the first call
I made in Washington should be upon the Rev.
John Pierpont." As the Comptroller concluded,
Dr. Pierpont put on his spectacles, and looked at
him a moment in silence. He at length said : — -
" Why, Mr. McCulloch, you are the most extraor-
dinary man I ever saw in my life ! " " How so ? "
was the reply. " Why, you have remembered a
favor for thirty years."

Dr. Pierpont told me, on another occasion, that
in the prosecution of a duty once assigned him in
the Department, he had to review a letter-book,
containing correspondence with the different officers
of the government. Among the letters was a
private note, written by Secretary Chase to the
Secretary of War, calling his attention to a com-
plaint, made by the colored people of Cincinnati,
against certain orders, or officers of the War De-
partment. The letter closed with these words : —

" We cannot afford to lose the support of any
part of our people. One poor man, colored though
he be, with God on his side, is stronger against us
than the hosts of the rebellion."

LV.

On the 30th of June, Washington was thrown
into a ferment, by the resignation of Mr. Chase as
Secretary of the Treasury. The publication, some

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 181

weeks before, of the u < Pomeroy ' secret circular," in
the interest of Mr. Chase, as a presidential candi-
date, had created much talk, and considerable bad
feeling in the party. The President, however,
took no part in the discussion, or criticism, which
followed ; — on the contrary, he manifested a sin-
cere desire to preserve pleasant relations, and har-
monize existing differences in the Cabinet. In
proof of this, I remember his sending one day
for Judge Lewis, the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, and entering into a minute explanation
of a misapprehension, which he conceived the Sec-
retary of the Treasury to be laboring under ; ex-
pressing the wish that the Commissioner would
mediate, on his behalf, with Mr. Chase.

Many sincere friends of Secretary Chase consid-
ered his resignation, at this juncture, unfortunate
and ill-timed. The financial situation was more
threatening than at any period during the war. Mr.
Chase's administration of the Treasury Department,
amid unparalleled difficulties, had been such as to
secure the confidence and satisfaction of the masses ;
and his withdrawal at such a time was regarded as
a public calamity, giving rise to the suspicion that
he apprehended national insolvency. The resig-
nation, however had been twice tendered before,
— tire third time it was accepted.

I never saw the President under so much excite-
ment as on the day following this event. Without
•jonsulta-tion or advice, so far as I ever could learii.

182 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

he sent to the Senate, the previous afternoon, the
name of Ex-Governor Todd, of Ohio, for the suc-
cessorship. This nomination was not popular, and
great relief was experienced the next morning,
when it was announced that Governor Todd had de-
clined the position. Mr. Lincoln passed an anxious
night. He received the telegram from Governor
Todd, declining the nomination, in the evening. Re-
tiring, he laid awake some hours, canvassing in his
mind the merits of various public men". At length
he settled upon the Hon. William P„. Fessenden, of
Maine ; and soon afterward fell asleep. The next
morning he went to his office and wrote the nomi-
nation. John Hay, the assistant private secretary,
had taken it from the President on his way to the
Capitol, when he encountered Senator Fessenden
upon the threshold of the room. As chairman of
the Finance Committee, he also had passed an
anxious night, and called thus early to consult with
the President, and offer some suggestions. After a
few moments' conversation, Mr. Lincoln turned to
him with a smile, and said : " I am obliged to you,
Fessenden, but the fact is, I have just sent your
own name to the Senate for Secretary of the Treas-
ury. Hay had just received the nomination from
my hand as you entered." Mr. Fessenden was
taken completely by surprise, and, very muck agi-
tated, protested his inability to accept the position.
The state of his health, he said, if no other con-
sideration, made it impossible. Mr. Lincoln would

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 188

not accept the refusal as final. He very justly felt
that with Mr. Fessenden's experience and known
ability at the head of the Finance Committee, his
acceptance would go far toward reestablishing a
feeling of security. He said to him, very earnestly,
" Fessenden, the Lord has not deserted me thus far,
and He is not going to ?ww, — you must accept ! "
They separated, the Senator in great anxiety of
mind. Throughout the day, Mr. Lincoln urged
almost all who called to go and see Mr. Fessenden.
and press upon him the duty of accepting. Among
these was a delegation of New York bankers, who,
in the name of the banking community, expressed
their satisfaction at the nomination. This was
especially gratifying to the President ; and, in the
strongest manner, he entreated them to " see Mr.
Fessenden and assure him of their support."

I am tempted, just here, to introduce a circum-
stance which occurred in the course of the day, in
which the President and myself were the only
actors. In the solitude of the state dining-room,
I resumed my work, as usual, that morning ; but
my mind had been too distracted over night for
success. Participating in the general solicitude, I
also had been intently revolving the question of a
successor to Mr. Chase. Unaccustomed to political
currents, and rejecting all considerations of this
character in a candidate, my thought fastened upon
Comptroller McCulloch, as the man for the crisis.
His name, at that time, singular as it may seem,

184 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

had not been suggested by any one, so far as I
knew, — certainly no newspaper had advocated his
merits or claims. I was at length impelled, by the
force of the convictions which engaged my mind,
to lay down my palette and brushes, and go up-
stairs and state them to the President.

Improving the first opportunity when we were
left alone, I said, half playfully, — " Mr. President,
would you like the opinion of a painter as to who
would make a good Secretary of the Treasury ? "
He looked at me a moment, and said : " Yes, T
think I would. What is your advice ? " Said I,
" Nominate Hugh McCulloch." " Why/' said he,
" what do you know of McCulloch ? " " Mr.
President," I rejoined, " you know painters are
thought generally to have very little knowledge of
financial matters. I admit that this is true, so far
as / am concerned ; but I do claim to know some-
thing of men, from the study of character as ex-
pressed in faces. Now, in my humble judgment,
McCulloch is the most suitable man in the com-
munity for the position. First ; his ability and in-
tegrity are unquestionable. Second ; as Comptroller
of the Currency, he is fully acquainted with the
past, present, and proposed future policy of Secre-
tary Chase, and the entire ' machinery ' of the
Department. Third ; he is a practical financier.
Having made finance the study of his life, it is
obvious he is -already educated to the position ;
whereas, a man taken from the political arena

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 185

would have everything to learn, and then even,
his judgment would be distrusted." Upon this Mr.
Lincoln said, with emphasis, — "I believe McCul-
loch is a very good man ! " I think he repeated
this once or twice. My errand accomplished, I
returned to my labor, satisfied that the instincts of
the President could be safely trusted with this, as
with other matters ; and that, though he might
temporarily err, he would ultimately solve the ques-
tion satisfactorily.

LVI.

Much has been said and written, since Mr. Lin
coin's death, in regard to his religious experience
and character. Two or three stories have been
published, bearing upon this point, which I have
never been able to trace to a reliable source ; and I
feel impelled to state my belief that the facts in the
case — if there were such — have received in some
way an unwarranted embellishment. Of all men
in the world, the late President was the most unaf-
fected and truthful. He rarely or never used lan-
guage loosely or carelessly, or for the sake of com-
pliment. He was the most indifferent to the effect
he was producing, either upon official representatives
or the common people, of any man ever in public
position.

In the ordinary acceptation of the term, I
would scarcely have called Mr. Lincoln a religious

L86 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

man, — and yet I believe him to have been a
sincere Christian, A constitutional tendency to
dwell upon sacred things, an emotional nature
which finds ready expression in religious conversa-
tion and revival meetings, the culture and develop-
ment of the devotional element till the expression
of such thought and experience becomes habitual,
were not among his characteristics. Doubtless he
felt as deeply upon the great questions of the soul
and eternity as any other thoughtful man ; but the
very tenderness and humility of his nature would
not permit the exposure of his inmost convictions,
except upon the rarest occasions, and to his most
intimate friends. And yet, aside from emotional
expression, I believe no man had a more abiding
sense of his dependence upon God, or faith in the
Divine government, and in the power and ultimate
triumph of Truth and Right in the world. The
Rev. J. P. Thompson, of New York, in an ad-
mirable discourse upon the life and character of
the departed President, very justly observed : " It
is not necessary to appeal to apocryphal stories
— which illustrate as much the assurance of his
visitors as the simplicity of his faith — for proof of
Mr. Lincoln's Christian character." If his daily
life and various public addresses and writings do
not show this, surely nothing can demonstrate it.

Fortunately there is sufficient material before the
public, upon which to form a judgment in this re-
Bpect, without resorting to apocryphal resources.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 187

The Rev. Mr. Willets, of Brooklyn, gave me
an account of a conversation with Mr. Lincoln, on
the part of a lady of his acquaintance, connected
with the " Christian Commission," who in the pros-
ecution of her duties had several interviews with
him. The President, it seemed, had been much
impressed with the devotion and earnestness of
purpose manifested by the lady, and on one occa-
sion, after she had discharged the object of her

visit, he said to her : " Mrs. , I have formed a

high opinion of your Christian character, and now,
as we are alone, I have a mind to ask you to give
me, in brief, your idea of what constitutes a true
religious experience." The lady replied at some
length, stating that, in her judgment, it consisted
of a conviction of one's own sinfulness and weak-
ness, and personal need of the Saviour for strength
and support ; that views of mere doctrine might
and would differ, but when one was really brought
to feel his need of Divine help, and to seek the aid
of the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, it
was satisfactory evidence of his having been born
again. This was the substance of her reply. "When
she had concluded, Mr. Lincoln was very thought-
ful for a few moments. He at length said, very
earnestly, " If what you have told me is really a
correct view of this great subject, 1 think I can say
with sincerity, that I hope I am a Christian. I
had lived," he continued, " until my boy Willie
died, without realizing fully these things. That

188 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

blow overwhelmed me. It showed me my weak
ness as I had never felt it before, and if I can take
what you have stated as a test, I think I can safely
say that I know something of that change of which
you speak ; and I will further add, that it has been
my intention for some time, at a suitable opportu-
nity, to make a public religious profession."

Mr. Noah Brooks, in some " reminiscences," al-
ready quoted from in these pages, gives the follow-
ing upon this subject : —

" Just after the last Presidential election he said,
1 Being only mortal, after all, I should have been a
little mortified if I had been beaten in this canvass ;
but that sting would have been more than compen-
sated by the thought that the people had notified
me that all my official responsibilities were soon to
be lifted off my back.' In reply to the remark
that he might remember that in all these cares he
was daily remembered by those who prayed, not to
be heard of men, as no man had ever before been
remembered, he caught at the homely phrase, and
said, ■ Yes, I like that phrase, " not to be heard of
men," and guess it is generally true, as you say ; at
loast, I have been told so, and I have been a good
deal helped by just that thought.' Then he sol-
emnly and slowly added : ' I should be the most
presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool, if I
for one day thought that I could discharge the
duties which have come upon me since I came
into this place, without the aid and enlighten-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 189

ment of One who is stronger and wiser than all
others.' "

" At another time he said cheerfully, ' I am very-
sure that if I do not go away from here a wiser
man, I shall go away a better man, for having
learned here what a very poor sort of a man I am.'
Afterwards, referring to what he called a change of
heart, he said he did not remember any precise
time when he passed through any special change of
purpose, or of heart ; but he would say, that his
own election to office, and the crisis immediately
following, influentially determined him in what he
called 4 a process of crystallization,' then going on
in his mind. Reticent as he was, and shy of dis-
coursing much of his own mental exercises, these
few utterances now have a value with those who
knew him, which his dying words would scarcely
have possessed."

" On Thursday of a certain week, two ladies,
from Tennessee, came before the President, asking
the release of their husbands, held as prisoners of
war at Johnson's Island. They were put off until
Friday, when they came again, and were again put
off until Saturday. At each of the interviews one
of the ladies urged that her husband was a religious
man. On Saturday, when the President ordered
the release of the prisoner, he said to this lady, —
1 You say your husband is a religious man ; tell
him, when you meet him, that I say I am not much
of a judge of religion, but that in my opinion the

190 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

religion which sets men to rebel and fight against
their government, because, as they think, that gov-
ernment does not sufficiently help some men to eat
their bread in the sweat of other men's faces, is not
the sort of religion upon which people can get to
heaven.' "

" On an occasion I shall never forget," says the
Hon. H. C. Deming, of Connecticut, " the conver-
sation turned upon religious subjects, and Mr. Lin-
coln made this impressive remark : 4 1 have never
united myself to any church, because I have found
difficulty in giving my assent, without mental res-
ervation, to the long, complicated statements of
Christian doctrine which characterize their Articles
of Belief and Confessions of Faith. When any
church will inscribe over its altar, as its sole qualifi-
cation for membership,' he continued, ' the Saviour's
condensed statement of the substance of both Law
and Gospel, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself," that
church will I join with all my heart and all my
soul.' "

At a dinner-party in Washington, composed
mainly of opponents of the war and the adminis-
tration, Mr. Lincoln's course and policy was, as
usual with this class, the subject of vehement db
nunciation. This had gone on for some time, when
one of the company, who had taken no part in the
discussion, asked the privilege of saying a few words.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 191

" Gentlemen," said he, " you may talk 3.3 you
please about Mr. Lincoln's capacity ; I don't be-
lieve him to be the ablest statesman in America, by
any means, and I voted against him on both occa-
sions of his candidacy. But I happened to see, or,
rather, to hear something, the other day, that con-
vinced me that, however deficient he may be in the
head, he is all right in the heart. I was up at
the White House, having called to see the Pres-
ident on business. I was shown into the office
of his private secretary, and told that Mr. Lincoln
was busy just then, but would be disengaged in a
short time. While waiting, I heard a very earnest
prayer being uttered in a loud female voice in the
adjoining room. I inquired what it meant, and was
told that an old Quaker lady, a friend of the Presi-
dent's, had called that afternoon and taken tea at
the White House, and that she was then praying
with Mr. Lincoln. After the lapse of a few min-
utes the prayer ceased, and the President, accom-
panied by a Quakeress not less than eighty years
old, entered the room where I was sitting. I mado
up my mind then, gentlemen, that Mr. Lincoln was
not a bad man ; and I don't think it will be easy to
efface the impression that the scene I witnessed and
the voice I heard made on my mind ! "

Nothing has been given to the public since Mr.
Lincoln's death, more interesting and valuable than
the following, from the pen of Dr. Holland : — *

* Holland's Life, of Abraham Lincoln.

192 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" At the time of the nominations at Chicago,
Mr. Newton Bateman, Superintendent of Public
Instruction for the State of Illinois, occupied a
room adjoining and opening into the Executive
Chamber at Springfield. Frequently this door was
open during Mr. Lincoln's receptions,*and through-
out the seven months or more of his occupation, he
saw him nearly every day. Often when Mr. Lin-
coln was tired, he closed the door against all in-
truders, and called Mr. Bateman into his room for a
quiet talk. On one of these occasions Mr. Lincoln
took up a book containing a careful canvass of the
city of Springfield in which he lived, showing the
candidate for whom each citizen had declared it his
intention to vote in the approaching election. Mr.
Lincoln's friends had, doubtless at his own request,
placed the result of the canvass in his hands. This
was towards the close of October, and only a few
days before election. Calling Mr. Bateman to a
seat by his side, having previously locked all the
doors, he said : i Let us look over this book ; I wish
particularly to see how the ministers of Springfield
are going to vote.' The leaves were turned, one
by one, and as the names were examined Mr. Lin-
coln frequently asked if this one and that were not
a minister, or an elder, or a member of such or
such church, and sadly expressed his surprise on
receiving an affirmative answer. In that manner
they went through the book, and then he closed it
and sat silently for some minutes, regarding a mem-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 193

orandum in pencil which lay before him. At length
he turned to Mr. Bateman, with a face full of sad-
ness, and said : ' Here are twenty-three ministers,
of different denominations, and all of them are
against me but three ; and here are a great many
prominent members of the churches, a very large
majority are against me. Mr. Bateman, I am not
a Christian, — God knows I would be one, — but I
have carefully read the Bible, and I do not so
understand this book ; ' and he drew forth a pocket
New Testament. 4 These men well know,' he con-
tinued, ' that I am for freedom in the Territories,
freedom everywhere as free as the Constitution and
the laws will permit, and that my opponents are for
slavery. They knoiv this, and yet, with this book
in their hands, in the light of which human bondage
cannot live a moment, they are going to vote against
me ; I do not understand it at all.'

" Here Mr. Lincoln paused, — paused for long
minutes, — his features surcharged with emotion.
Then he rose and walked up and down the recep-
tion-room in the effort to retain or regain his self-
possession. Stopping at last, he said, with a trem-
bling voice and his cheeks wet with tears : 1 1 know
there is a God, and that He hates injustice and
slavery. I see the storm coming, and I know that
his hand is in it. If He has a place and work for
me — and I think He has — I believe I am ready.
I am nothing, but Truth is everything. [ know I
am right, because I know that liberty is right, for

13

194 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. I have told
them that a house divided against itself cannot
stand ; and Christ and Reason say the same ; and
they will find it so.'

" ' Douglas don't care whether slavery is voted
up or down, but God cares, and humanity cares,
and I care ; and with God's help I shall not fail.
I may not see the end ; but it will come, and I
shall be vindicated ; and these men will find that
they have not read their Bibles right.'

" Much of this was uttered as if he was speaking
to himself, and with a sad, earnest solemnity of
manner impossible to be described. After a pause,
he resumed : ' Does n't it appear strange that men
can ignore the moral aspect of this contest ? A rev-
elation could not make it plainer to me that slavery
or the Government must be destroyed. The future
would be something awful, as I look at it, but for
this rock on which I stand,' (alluding to the Testa-
ment which he still held in his hand,) i especially
with the knowledge of how these ministers are
going to vote. It seems as if God had borne with
this thing [slavery] until the very teachers of re-
ligion had come to defend it from the Bible, and to
claim for it a divine character and sanction ; and
now the cup of iniquity is full, and the vials of
wrath will be poured out.' After this the conver-
sation was continued for a long time. Everything
he said was of a peculiarly deep, tender, and relig-
ious tone, and all was tinged with a touching mel-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 19()

ancholy. He repeatedly referred to his conviction
that the day of wrath was at hand, and that lie was
to be an actor in the terrible struggle which would
issue in the overthrow of slavery, though he might
not live to see the end.

" After further reference to a belief in Di\ ine
Providence, and the fact of God in history, the con-
versation turned upon prayer. He freely stated his
belief in the duty, privilege, and efficacy of prayer,
and intimated, in no unmistakable terms, that he had
sought in that way the Divine guidance and favor.
The effect of this conversation upon the mind of Mr.
Bateman, a Christian gentleman whom Mr. Lincoln
profoundly respected, was to convince him that Mr.
Lincoln had, in his quiet way, found a path to the
Christian standpoint — that he had found God,
and rested on the eternal truth of God. As the
two men were about to separate, Mr. Bateman
remarked : ' I have not supposed that you were
accustomed to think so much upon this class of
subjects ; certainly your friends generally are igno-
rant of the sentiments you have expressed to me.'
He replied quickly : 4 1 know they are, but I think
more on these subjects than upon all others, and I
have done so for years ; and I am willing you
should know it.' "

Schuyler Colfax once said to me that " Mr.
Lincoln had two ruling ideas, or principles, which
governed his life. The first was hatred of slavery,
which he inherited in part from his parents ; the

196 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

other was sympathy with the lowly born and hum-
ble, and the desire to lift them up." I know of no
better epitaph for his tombstone than this, save
that suggested by Theodore Tilton, the editor of
the New York " Independent," — " He bound the
nation, and unbound the slave."

LVIX

On the Fourth of July an unprecedented event
was witnessed in Washington. By special consent
of the President, the White House grounds were
granted to the colored people of the city for a grand
Sunday-school festival, and never did they present
a busier or more jubilant scene. Inside the grounds
a platform was erected, upon which accommoda-
tions were placed for speakers. Around this were
rows of benches, which, during the greater part
of the day, were not only well filled but crowded.
Meanwhile groups reposed under every tree or
walked to and fro along the shaded paths. From
the thick-leaved branches of the trees were sus-
pended swings, of which all, both old and young,
made abundant use. Every contrivance which could
adi to the pleasure of the time was brought into
energetic requisition, and altogether no celebration
of the day presented a greater appearance of enjoy-
ment and success.

By the Act of Emancipation, Mr. Lincoln built
for himself the first place in the affections of the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 197

African race on this continent. The love and rev-
erence manifested for his name and person on all
occasions daring the last two years of his life, by
this down-trodden people, were always remarkable,
and sometimes of a thrilling character. In the lan-
guage of one of the poor creatures who stood weep-
ing and moaning at the gateway of the avenue in
front of the White House, while the beloved re-
mains were lying in state in the East Room, " they
had him."

No public testimonial of regard, it is safe to say,
gave Mr. Lincoln more sincere pleasure during his
entire public life, than that presented by the colored
people of the city of Baltimore, in the summer of
1864, consisting of an elegant copy of the Holy
Bible. The volume was of the usual pulpit size,
bound in violet-colored velvet. The corners were
bands of solid gold, and carved upon a plate also of
gold, not less than one fourth of an inch thick. Upon
the left-hand cover, was a design representing the
President in a cotton-field knocking the shackles off
the wrists of a slave, who held one hand aloft as if
invoking blessings upon the head of his benefactor,
— at whose feet was a scroll upon which was writ-
ten " Emancipation " ; upon the other cover was a
similar plate bearing the inscription : — ,

"To Abraham Lincoln, President of the United
States, the friend of Universal Freedom. From the loyal
colored people of Baltimore, as a token of respect and
gratitude. Baltimore, July 4th, 1864."

198 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

The presentation was made by a committee of
colored people, consisting of three clergymen and
two laymen, who were received by the President in
the most cordial manner, after which the Rev. S.
W. Chase, on the part of the committee, said : —

" Mr. President : The loyal colored people of Balti-
more have delegated to us the authority to present this
Bible, as a token of their appreciation of your humane
part towards the people of our race. While all the na-
tion are offering their tributes of respect, we cannot let
the occasion pass by without tendering ours. Since we
have been incorporated in the American family we have
been true and loyal, and we now stand by, ready to de-
fend the country. We are ready to be armed and trained
in military matters, in order to protect and defend the
Star-spangled Banner.

" Our hearts will ever feel the most unbounded gratitude
towards you. We come forward to present a copy of the
Holy Scriptures as a token of respect to you for your ac-
tive part in the cause of emancipation. This great event
will be a matter of history. In future, when our sons
shall ask what mean these tokens, they will be told of
your mighty acts, and rise up and call you blessed.

" The loyal colored people will remember your Excel-
lency at the throne of Divine Grace. May the King
Eternal, an all-wise Providence, protect and keep you,
and when you pass from this world, may you be borr.e to
the bosom of your Saviour and God."

The President, in reply, said : —

" It would be a very fitting occasion to make a response
at length to the very appropriate address which you have

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 19S

just made. I wo lid do so if T were prepared. I would
promise you to make a response in writing, had not expe-
rience taught me that business will not allow me to do so.
I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has
alwa}rs been a sentiment with me that all mankind should
be free.

" So far as I have been able, so far as came within my
sphere, I have always acted as I believed was right and
just, and done all I could for the good of mankind. I
have, in letters and documents sent forth from this office,
expressed myself better than I can now. In regard to
the great book, I have only to say, it is the best gift
which God has ever given man.

" All the good from the Saviour of the World is com-
municated to us through this book. But for that book
we could not know right from wrong. All those things
desirable to man are contained in it. I return you my
sincere thanks for this very elegant copy of the great
book of God which you present."

• After some time spent in the examination of the
gift, which drew out many expressions of admiration
from the President, the party withdrew, Mr. Lin-
coln taking each of them by the hand as they passed
out.

Caroline Johnson, an estimable colored woman
of Philadelphia, an active nurse in the hospitals
during the war, who had once been a slave, as an
expression of reverence and affection for Presi-
dent Lincoln, prepared, with much taste and in-
genuity, a superb collection of wax fruits, together
with a stem-table, appropriately ornamented, which

200 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

she desired to present to the President. Through a
friend an opportunity was secured, and she went to
Washington, with her minister, to attend personally
to the setting up of the stand and fruit.

The result is given by a correspondent of the
" Anti-Slavery Standard," in her own words : —

" The Commissioner, Mr. Newton, received ug
kindly, and sent the box to the White House, with
directions that it should not be opened until I came.
The next day was reception day, but the President
sent me word that he would receive me at one
o'clock. I went and arranged the table, placing it
in the centre of the room. Then I was introduced
to the President and his wife. He stood next to
me ; then Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Newton, and the min-
ister ; the others outside. Mr. Hamilton (the min-
ister) made an appropriate speech, and at the con-
clusion said : ' Perhaps Mrs. Johnson would like to
say a few words ? ' I looked down to the floor, and
felt that I had not a word to say, but after a mo-
ment or two, the fire began to burn, (laying hei
hand on her breast,) and it burned and burned till
it went all over me. I think it was the Spirit,
and I looked up to him and said : 4 Mr. President, 1
believe God has hewn you out of a rock, for this
great and mighty purpose. Many have been led
away by bribes of gold, of silver, of presents ; but
you have stood firm, because God was with you,
and if you are faithful to the end, he will be with
you.' With his eyes full of tears, he walked round

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 201

a^u examined the present, pronounced it beautiful,
thanked me kindly, but said : ' You must not give
me the praise — it belongs to God.' "

LVIII.

" Sojourner Truth," the slave preacher whom
Mrs. Stowe has described as embodying all tne ele-
ments of an African prophetess or sibyi, when
over eighty years old, left her home, at Battlecreek,
Michigan, with the unalterable purpose of seeing
the Emancipator of her race before her death.
Provided for throughout her journey, she reached
Washington the last of October, 1864, and subse-
quently, at her dictation, the following account of
her interview with Mr. Lincoln was written out by
a friend : —

44 It was about eight o'clock, a. m., when I called
on the President. Upon entering his reception-room
we found about a dozen persons in waiting, among
them two colored women. I had quite a pleasant
time waiting until he was disengaged, and enjoyed
his conversation with others ; he showed as much
kindness and consideration to the colored persons as
to the whites, — if there w^as any difference, more.
One case w-as that of a colored woman, who was sick
and likely to be turned out of her house on account
of her inability to pay her rent. The President lis-
tened to her with much attention, and spoke to her
with kindness and tenderness. He said he had

202 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

given so much he could give no more, but told her
where to go and get the money, and asked Mrs.

C , who accompanied me, to assist her, which

she did.

" The President was seated at his desk. Mrs. C.
said to him : ' This is Sojourner Truth, who has
come all the way from Michigan to see you.' He
then arose, gave me his hand, made a bow, and
said : ' I am pleased to see you.'

" I said to him : ' Mr. President, when you first
took your seat I feared you would be torn to pieces,
for I likened you unto Daniel, who was thrown into
the lions' den ; and if the lions did not tear you into
pieces, I knew that it would be God that had saved
you ; and I said if He spared me I would see you
before the four years expired, and He has done so,,
and now I am here to see you for myself.'

" He then congratulated me on my having been
spared. Then I said : ' I appreciate you, for you
are the best President who has ever taken the seat.'
He replied thus : 4 1 expect you have reference to
my having emancipated the slaves in my proclama-
tion. But,' said he, mentioning the names of sev-
eral of his predecessors, (and among them emphati-
cally that of Washington,) ; they were all just as
good, and would have done just as I have done if
the time had come. If the people over the river
(pointing across the Potomac) had behaved them-
selves, I could not have done what I have ; but they
did not, and I was compelled to do these things.' I

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 203

then said : 1 1 thank God that you were the instru-
ment selected by Him and the people to do it.'

4* He then showed me the Bible presented to him
by the colored people of Baltimore, of which you
have heard. I have seen it for myself, and it is
beautful beyond description. After I had looked it
over, I said to him : • This is beautiful indeed ; the
colored people have given this to the Head of the
Government, and that Government once sanctioned
laws that would not permit its people to learn
enough to enable them to read this Book. And
for what ? Let them answer who can.'

" I must say, and I am proud to say, that I never
was treated by any one with more kindness and
cordiality than was shown me by that great and
good man, Abraham Lincoln, by the grace of God
President of the United States for four years more.
He took my little book, and with the same hand
that signed the death-warrant of slavery, he wrote
as follows : —

1 For Aunty Sojourner Truth,

' Oct. 29, 1864. A. Lincoln.'

" As I was taking my leave, he arose and took
my hand, and said he would be pleased to have me
call again. I felt that I was in the presence of a
friend, and I now thank God from the bottom of
my heart that I always have advocated his cause,
and have done it openly and boldly. I shall feel
still more in duty bound to do so in time to come.
May God assist me."

204 SIX MONTHS AT THE H HITE HOUSE.

Mr. Lincoln's cordial reception of Frederick
Douglass, the distinguished anti-slavery orator, also
once a slave, was widely made known through that
gentleman's own account of it in one his public lec-
tures.

In August or September, 1864, Mr. Douglass
again visited Washington. The President heard of
his being in the city, and greatly desiring a second
conversation upon points on which he considered
the opinion and advice of a man of Mr. Douglass's
antecedents valuable, he sent his carriage to the
boarding-house where he was staying, with a re-
quest that Mr. D. would u come up and take a cur
of tea "a with him. The invitation was accepted ;
and probably never before, in our history, was the
executive carriage employed to convey such a guest
to the Wiute House. Mr. Douglass subsequently
remarked that u Mr. Lincoln was one of the few
white men he ever passed an hour with, who failed
to remind him in some way, before the interview
terminated, that he was a 'negro.1 '

Amemoiial, on a certain occasion, was present-
ed to the President from the children and young
people of Concord, Mass., petitioning for the free-
dom of all slave children. In reply, he wrote the
following : —

ro

" Tell those little people I am very glad their
young hearts are so full of just and generous sym-
pathy, and that while I have not the power to grant

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 205

all they ask, I trust they will remember that God
has ; and that as it seems He wills to do it.

A. Lincoln. '

LIX.

" On New Year's day, 1865," wrote a corre-
spondent of the New York " Independent," " a
memorable incident occurred, of which the like
was never before seen at the White House. I had
noticed, at sundry times during the summer, the
wild fervor and strange enthusiasm which our col-
ored friends always manifest over the name of
Abraham Lincoln. His name with them seems
to be associated with that of his namesake, the Father
of the Faithful. In the great crowds which gathei
from time to time in front of the White House, in
honor of the President, none shout so loudly or so
wildly, and swing their hats with such utter aban-
don, while their eyes are beaming with the intensest
joy, as do these simple-minded and grateful people.
I have often laughed heartily at these exhibitions.
But the scene yesterday excited far other emotions.
As I entered the door of the President's House, I
noticed groups of colored people gathered here and
there, who seemed to be watching earnestly the in-
pouring throng. For nearly two hours they hung
around, until the crowd of white visitors began sen-
sibly to diminish. Then they summoned up cour-
age, and began timidly to approach the door. Some

206 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

of them were richly and gayly dressed ; some were
in tattered garments, and others in the most fanciful
and grotesque costume. All pressed eagerly for-
ward. When they came into the presence of the
President, doubting as to their reception, the feel-
ings of the poor creatures overcame them, and here
the scene baffles my powers of description.

" For two lono- hours Mr. Lincoln had been
shaking the hands of the • sovereigns,' and had
become excessively weary, and his grasp languid ;
but here his nerves rallied at the unwonted sight,
and he welcomed this motley crowd with a hearti-
ness that made them wild with exceeding joy.
They laughed and wept, and wept and laughed, —
exclaiming, through their blinding tears : 4 God
bless you ! ' 4 God bless Abraham Lincoln ! '
' God bress Massa Linkum ! ' Those who wit-
nessed this scene will not soon forget it. For a
long distance down the Avenue, on my way home,
I heard fast young men cursing the President for
this act ; but all the way the refrain rang in my
ears, — ' God bless Abraham Lincoln ! '.'

Miss Betsey Canedy, of Fall River, Massachu-
setts, while engaged in teaching a school among
the colored people of Norfolk, Virginia, had in hei
school-room a plaster bust of the President. One
day she called some colored carpenters who were at
work on the building, and showed it to them, writ-
ing down their remarks, some of which were aa
follows : —

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 207

" He 's brought us safe through the Red Sea.'
"He looks as deep as the sea himself." "He's
king of the United States." " He ought to be
king of all the world." " We must all pray to the
Lord to carry him safe through, for it 'pears like
he's got everything hitched to him." " There has
been a right smart praying for him, and it mustn't
stop now."

A southern correspondent of the New York
" Tribune," in Charleston, South Carolina, the
week following the assassination, wrote : —

" I never saw such sad faces, or heard such
heavy hearts beatings, as here in Charleston the
day the dreadful news came ! The colored people
— the native loyalists — were like children be-
reaved of an only and loved parent. I saw one
old woman going up the street wringing her hands
and saying aloud, as she walked looking straight
before her, so absorbed in her grief that she noticed
no one, —

" ' O Lord ! O Lord ! O Lord ! Massa Sam 's
dead ! Massa Sam 's dead ! O Lord ! Massa Sam 's
dead ! '

" ' Who 's dead, Aunty ? ' I asked her.

" 4 Massa Sam ! ' she said, not looking at me, — -
renewing her lamentations: 'O Lord! O Loid !
Lord ! Massa Sam 's dead ! '

" « Who 's Massa Sam ? ' I asked.

" ' Uncle Sam ! ' she said. 4 O Lord ! Lord ! '

" I was not quite sure that she meant the Pres-
ident, and I spoke again : —

208 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" ' Who 's Massa Sam, Aunty ? '

" ' Mr. Lincum ! ' she said, and resumed wringing
her hands and moaning in utter hopelessness of sor-
row. The poor creature was too ignorant to com-
prehend any difference between the very unreal
Uncle Sam and the actual President ; but her heart
told her that he whom Heaven had sent in answer
to her prayers was lying in a bloody grave, and she
and her race were left — fatherless "

In 1863, Colonel McKaye, of New York, with
Robert Dale Owen and one or two other gentle-
men, were associated as a committee to investigate
the condition of the freedmen on the coast of North
Carolina. Upon their return from Hilton Head
they reported to the President ; and in the course
of the interview Colonel McKaye related the fol-
lowing incident.

He had been speaking of the ideas of power
entertained by these people. He said they had an
idea of God, as the Almighty, and they had real-
ized in their former condition the power of their
masters. Up to the time of the arrival among
them of the Union forces, they had no knowledge
of any other power. Their masters fled upon the
approach of our soldiers, and this gave the slaves a
conception of a power greater than that exercised
by them. This power they called " Massa Lin-
kum."

Colonel McKaye said that their place of worship
was a large building which they called " the praise

S1A MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 209

house ; " and the leader of the meeting, a ven-
erable black man, was known as " the praise man."
On a certain day, when there was quite a large
gathering of the people, considerable confusion was
created by different persons attempting to tell who
and what " Massa Linkum " was. In the midst of
the excitement the white-headed leader commanded
silence. " Brederin," said he, " you don't know
nosen' what you'se talkin' 'bout. Now, you just
listen to me. Massa Linkum, he eberywhar. He
know eberyting." Then, solemnly looking up, he
added, — "He ivaTk de earf like de Lord ! "

Colonel McKaye told me that Mr. Lincoln seemed
much affected by this account. He did not smile,
as another man might have done, but got up from
his chair, and walked in silence two or three times
across the floor. As he resumed his seat, he said,
very impressively : " It is a momentous thing to
be the instrument, under Providence, of the libera-
tion of a race."

LX.

The famous u peace " conference, on board the
River Queen, in Hampton Roads, between Pres-
ident Lincoln and Secretary Seward, and the Rebel
commissioners Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell,
took place the 3d of February, 1865. A few days
afterward* I asked the President if it was true,

* My " six months " proper, at the White House, terminated, as will
be seen, the last week in July, 186-i. February and a part of March
14

210 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

as reported by the New York " Herald," that he
told a "little story" on that occasion? — "Why,'
said he, " has it leaked out ? I was in hopes
nothing would be said about that, lest some over-
sensitive people should imagine there was a degree
of levity in the intercourse between us." He then
went on to relate the circumstances which called it
out. " You see," said he, " we had reached and
were discussing the slavery question. Mr. Hunter
said, substantially, that the slaves, always accus-
tomed to an overseer, and to work upon compul-
sion, suddenly freed, as they would be if the South
should consent to peace on the basis of the ( Eman-
cipation Proclamation,' would precipitate not only
themselves but the entire Southern society into
irremediable ruin. No 'work would be done, noth-
ing would be cultivated, and both blacks and whites
would starve ! " Said the President, " I waited for
Seward to answer that argument, but as he was
silent, I at length said : ' Mr. Hunter, you ought to
know a great deal better about this matter than /,
for you have always lived under the slave system.
I can only say, in reply to your statement of the
case, that it reminds me of a man out in Illinois, by
the name of Case, who undertook, a few years ago,
to raise a very large herd of hogs. It was a great
trouble to feed them, and how to get around this
was a puzzle to him. At length he hit on the plan

following I passed in Washington* and was privileged with a renewal
of mj previous intercourse with Mr. Lincoln.

SIX MOXTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 211

of planting an immense field of potatoes, and, when
they were sufficiently grown, he turned the whole
herd into the field, and let them have full swing,
thus saving not only the labor of feeding the hogs,
hut also that of digging the potatoes. Charmed
with his sagacity, he stood one day leaning against
the fence, counting his hoo-s, when a neighbor came
along. ' Well, well,' said he, 4 Mr. Case, this is all
very fine. Your hogs are doing very well just now,
but you know out here in Illinois the frost comes
early, and the ground freezes a foot deep. Then
what are they going to do.?' This was a view of
the matter Mr. Case had not taken into account.
Butchering-time for hogs was 'way on jn December
or January. He scratched his head, and at length
stammered, ' Well, k may come pretty hard on
their snouts, but I don't see but that it will "be
" root, hog, or die ! " '

" Shortly afterward," he continued, " a reference
was casually made to Colonel Hardin, who was
killed in the Mexican War, — who at one time was
a representative in Congress from Illinois ; and this
drew out a story from Stephens. * On a certain
occasion,' he said, ' when the House was in session,
a dispute arose between Hardin and others of the
Illinois delegation as to the proper pronunciation of
the name of their State. Some insisted it was
'' Illinoy" others as stoutly that it was " Illinois.''''
Hardin at length appealed to the venerable John
Quincy Adams. " If one were to judge from the

212 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

character of the representatives in this Congress
from that State," said the o.d man, with a mali-
cious smile, " I should decide unhesitatingly that the
proper pronunciation was ' All noise ! ' " ' "

In the Augusta (Ga.) u Chronicle," of the 17th
of June, 1865, there appeared a report of this con-
ference, purporting to have been written out from
the lips of Mr. Stephens, so characteristic of Mr.
Lincoln, that I subjoin the following extracts : —

" The three Southern gentlemen met Mr. Lincoln
and Mr. Seward, and after some preliminary re-
marks, the subject of peace was opened. Mr. Ste-
phens, well aware that one who asks much may get
more than ha who confesses to humble wishes at the
outset, urged the claims of his section with that skill
and address for which the Northern papers have
given him credit. Mr. Lincoln, holding the van-
tage-ground of conscious power, was, however, per-
fectly frank, and submitted his views almost in the
form of an argument.

" Davis had on this occasion, as on

that of Mr. Stephens's visit to Washington, made it
a condition that no conference should be had unless
his rank as commander or President should first be
recognized. Mr. Lincoln declared that the only
ground on which he could rest the justice of the
war — either with his own people or with foreign
powers — was that it was not a war for conquest,
for that the States had never been separated from
the Union. Consequently, he could not recognize

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 2 IS

another government inside of the one of which he
alone was President, nor admit the separate inde-
pendence of States that were yet a part of the
Union. 4 That,' said he, 4 would be doing what
you have so long asked Europe to do in vain, and
be resigning the only thing the armies of the Union
are fighting for.'

" Mr. Hunter made a long reply to this, insisting
that the recognition of Davis's power to make a
treaty was the first and indispensable step to peace,
and referred to the correspondence between King
Charles I. and his Parliament, as a trustworthy
precedent of a constitutional ruler treating with
rebels.

" Mr. Lincoln's face then wore that indescribable
expression which generally preceded his hardest hits,
and he remarked : 4 Upon questions of history I
must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is posted
in such things, and I don't pretend to be bright.
My only distinct recollection of the matter is, that
Charles lost his head.' That settled Mr. Hunter for
a while."

" During the interview it appears that Hunter
declared that he had never entertained any fears for
his person or life from so mild a government as that
of the United States. To which Mr. Lincoln re-
torted that he, also, had felt easy as to the Rebels,
but not always so easy about the lamp-posts around
Washington City, — a hint that he had already

U14 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSK.

done more favors for the Rebels than was exactly
popular with the radical men of his own party.

" Mr. Lincoln's manner had now grown more
positive. He suggested that it would be better for
the Rebel States to return at once than to risk the
chances of continuing the war, and the increasing
bitterness of feeling in Congress. The time might
come, he said, when they would not be considered
as an erring people invited back to citizenship, but
would be looked upon as enemies to be exterminated
or ruined.

. " During the conference, the amendment to the
Federal Constitution, which has just been adopted
by Congress, was read, providing that neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, should
exist within the United States, or any place within
its jurisdiction, and Congress should have power to
enforce the amendment by appropriate legislation."
The report says, " Mr. Seward then remarked : Mr
President, it is as well to inform these gentlemen
that yesterday Congress acted upon the amendment
of the Constitution abolishing slavery."

" Mr. Lincoln stated this to be true, and suggested
that there was a question as to the right of the in-
surgent States to return at once and claim a right
to vote upon the amendment, to which the concur-
rence of two thirds of the States was required. He
stated that it would be desirable to have the insti-
tution of slavery abolished by the consent of the
people as soon as possible, — he hoped within sis

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 215

years. He also stated that four hundred millions
of dollars might be offered as compensation to the
owners, and remarked, 4 You would be surprised
were I to give you the names of those who favor
that.' "

44 Mr. Stephens came home with a new cause of
sorrow, and those who said he talked of coming
home to make war speeches and denounce the terms
offered, simply lied. Before Mr. Lincoln's death,
he thought he was doing a favor to him not to in-
clude that offer of four hundred millions in gold for
the Southern slaves in the published report, for it
would be used to the injury of Mr. Lincoln by those
of his enemies who talk about taxation and the
debt.

" Mr. Stephens has frequently expressed no ap-
prehensions should the fortunes of war throw him
into the hands of Mr. Lincoln, and said he would
not get out of the way of a raid were it not for
appearances, on account of the office he held. He
spoke of Mr. Lincoln as an old friend who had
generally voted with him in Congress, and who nad
a good heart and fine mind, and was undoubtedly
honest."

LXI.

Visitors to the Executive Chamber, during the
administration of Mr. Lincoln, will remember the
lithographic map, showing the slave population of

216 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the Southern States in graduated light and shade,
which usually leaned against a leg of his desk or
table, and bore the marks of much service. The
States and counties most abounding in slaves were
indicated on this map by degrees of blackness, so
that by a glance the proportion of whites and blacks
in the different States at the commencement of the
Rebellion could be easily comprehended.

Wishing to introduce this map into my picture,
I carried it off one day, without the President's
knowledge, and as the copying of it was a tedious
affair, it remained in the studio for some time. This
chanced to be during the week of Kilpatrick's great
cavalry raid in Virginia. One afternoon the Pres-
ident came in alone, as was his wont, — the obser-
vation of the daily progress of the picture appearing
to afford him a species of recreation. Presently his
eye fell upon the map, leaning against a chair, as I
had left it after making the study. aAh!" said
he, "you have appropriated my map, have you? I
have been looking all around for it." And with
that he put on his spectacles, and, taking it up,
walked to the window ; and sitting down upon a
trunk began to pore over it very earnestly. He
pointed out Kilpatrick's position, when last heard
from, and said : —

" It is just as I thought it was. He is close

upon County, where the slaves are thickest.

Now we ought to get a 'heap ' of them, when he
returns.''

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 217

This conversation occurred, I recollect, just after
his solitary lunch, — the family being away at
the time. It was often a matter of surprise to me
how the President sustained life ; for it seemed,
some weeks, as though he neither ate nor slept.
His habits continued as simple as when he was a
practising lawyer in Springfield, but they came to
be very irregular. During the months of my inter-
course with him he rarely entertained company at
dinner. Almost daily, at this hour, I met a servant
carrying a simple meal upon a tray up-stairs, where
it was received, perhaps two hours later, in the
most unceremonious manner. I knew this irregu-
larity of life was his own fault ; but the wonder as
to how his system endured the strain brought to
bear upon it was not lessened by this knowledge.

All familiar with him will remember the weary
air which became habitual during his last years.
This was more of the mind than the body, and no
rest and recreation which he allowed himself could
relieve it. As he sometimes expressed it, the rem-
edy " seemed never to reach the tired spot."

Mr. Lincoln's height was six feet three and three-
quarter inches " in his stocking-feet." He stood
up, one day, at the right of my large canvas, while
I marked his exact height upon it.

His frame was gaunt but sinewy, and inclined to
stoop when he walked. His head was of full me-
dium size, with a broad brow, surmounted by rough,
unmanageable hair, which, he once said, had " a

218 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

way of getting up as far as possible in the world.'1
Lines of care ploughed his face, — the hollows in
his cheeks and under his eyes being very marked.
The mouth was his plainest feature, varying widely
from classical models, — nevertheless expressive of
much firmness and gentleness of character.

His complexion was inclined to sallowness, though
I judged this to be the result, in part, of his anxious
life in Washington. His eyes were blueish-gray in
color, — always in deep shadow, however, from the
upper lids, which were unusually heavy, (remind-
ing me, in this respect, of Stuart's portrait of Wash-
ington,) — and the expression was remarkably pen-
sive and tender, often inexpressibly sad, as if the
reservoir of tears lay very near the surface, — a
fact proved not only by the response which accounts
of suffering and sorrow invariably drew forth, but
by circumstances which would ordinarily affect few
men in his position.

The Hon. Mr. Frank, of New York, told me
that just after the nomination of Mr. Chase as
Chief Justice, a deeply interesting conversation
upon this subject took place one evening between
himself and the President, in Mrs. Lincoln's private
sitting-room. Mr. Lincoln reviewed Mr. Chase's
political course and aspirations at some length, al-
luding to what he had felt to be an estrangement
from him personally, and to various sarcastic and
bitter expressions reported to him as having been
indulged in by the ex-Secretary, both before and

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 21 S

after his resignation. The Congressman replied
that such reports were always exaggerated, and
spoke very warmly of Mr. Chase's great services in
the hour of the country's extremity, his patriotism,
and integrity to principle. The tears instantly
sprang into Mr. Lincoln's eyes. " Yes," said he,
" that is true. We have stood together in the time
of trial, and I should despise myself if I allowed
personal differences to affect my judgment of his
fitness for the office of Chief Justice."

lxh.

The President's friend, the Hon. H. C. Deming
of Connecticut, once ventured to ask him " if he
had ever despaired of the country? " " When the
Peninsula campaign terminated suddenly at Har-
rison's Landing," rejoined Mr. Lincoln, u I was
as nearly inconsolable as I could be and live." In
the same connection Colonel Deming inquired if
there had ever been a period in which he thought
that better management upon the part of the
commanding general might have terminated the
war? " Yes," answered the President, " there were
three : at ' Malvern Hill,' when McClellan failed to
command an immediate advance upon Richmond ;
at 4 Chancellorville,' when Hooker failed to reen-
force Sedgwick, after hearing his cannon upon the
extreme right ; and at 4 Gettysburg,' when Meade
failed to attack Lee in his retreat at the bend of the

220 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Potomac." After this commentary, the Congress-
man waited for an outburst of denunciation — for a
criticism, at least — upon the delinquent officers ; but
he waited in vain. So far from a word of censure
escaping Mr. Lincoln's lips, he soon added, that his
first remark might not appear uncharitable : " I do
not know that I could have given any different
orders had I been with them myself. I have not
fully made up my mind how I should behave when
minie-balls were whistling, and those great oblong
shells shrieking in my ear. I might run away."

The interview at which this conversation took
place, occurred just after General Fremont had de-
clined to run against him for the presidency. The
magnificent Bible which the negroes of Baltimore
had just presented to him lay upon the table, and
while examining it, Colonel Deming recited the
somewhat remarkable passage from the Chronicles :
" Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day,
southward four a day, and toward Assuppim, two
and two. At Parbar westward, four at the cause-
way, and two at Parbar." The President imme-
diately challenged his friend to find any such pas-
sage in his Bible. After it was pointed out to him,
and he was satisfied of h> genuineness, he asked the
Congressman if he remembered the text which his
friends had recently applied to Fremont, and in-
stantly turned to a verse in the first of Samuel, put
on his spectacles, and read in his slow, peculiar, and
waggish tone : " And every one that was in distress,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 221

and every one that was in debt, and every one that
was discontented, gathered themselves unto him,
and he became a captain over them, and there were
with him about four hundred men."

Lxin.

The letter of General Fremont withdrawing from
the presidential canvass of 1864, after having ac-
cepted the nomination of the Cleveland Conven-
tion, was an unfortunate one for his political repu-
tation, whatever may have been thought of the
military career of that once popular leader. With-
out attempting any discussion of the merits of the
controversy between him and the Government, I
think it cannot be denied that Mr. Lincoln ever
bore toward General Fremont the sincerest good
will, though for reasons perhaps not yet fairly esti-
mated, as a commander he had failed to realize the
public expectation.

Some months subsequent to Fremont's removal
from the Western Department, one of his personal
friends, Mr. Henry C. Bowen, of Brooklyn, hap-
pened to be in Washington. Passing the Executive
Chamber, on his way to the private secretary's of-
fice one day, he observed the door ajar, and the
President standing near it, in the act of taking
down a book from the bookcase. Catching a glimpse
of him, Mr. Lincoln* said, "Come in ; you are the
very man I want to see." Mr. Bowen entered -he

222 SIX -MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

ofh'ce, and the President, laying aside other busi-
ness, said : " I have been thinking a great deal
lately about Fremont ; and I want to ask you, as an
old friend of his, what is thought about his contin-
uing inactive ? " " Mr. President," returned Mr.
Bowen, u I will say to you frankly, that a large
class of people feel that General Fremont has been
badly treated, and nothing would give more satis-
faction, both to him and to his friends, than his re-
appointment to'a command commensurate, in some
degree, with his rank and ability." " Do you think
he would accept an inferior position to that he occu-
pied in Missouri ? " asked the President. " I have
that confidence in General Fremont's patriotism,
that I venture to promise for him in advance," was
the earnest reply. " Well," rejoined Mr. Lincoln,
thoughtfully, " I have had it on my mind for some
time that Fremont should be given a chance to re-
deem himself. The great hue and cry about him
has been concerning his expenditure of the public
money. I have looked into the matter a little,
and I can't see as he has done any worse or any
more, in that line, than our Eastern commanders.
At any rate, he shall have another trial ! " The
result, close upon this interview, was the appoint-
ment of Fremont to the " Mountain Department
of Western Virginia."

While Mr. Bowen was in Washington, he drove
out, by invitation one evening, with one or twe-
friends, to the Soldier's Home, where th? Presi-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 223

dent spent the nights of midsummer. More at leis-
ure there than at the " shop," as he was in the habit
of calling his official chamber at the White House,
Mr. Lincoln sat down with the party for a leisurely
conversation. " I know," he said to Mr. Bowen,
"that you are a great admirer of Mr. Chase and
Mr. Seward. Now, I will tell you a circumstance
that may please you. Before sunset of election-day,
in 1860, I was pretty sure, from the despatches I
received, that I was elected. The very first thing
that I settled in my mind, after reaching this con-
clusion, was that these two great leaders of the
party should occupy the two first places in my
cabinet."

LXIV.

" The Soldier's Home," writes a California
lady,* who visited Mr. Lincoln there, " is a few miles
out of Washington on the Maryland side. It is situa-
ted on a beautifully wooded hill, which you ascend by
a winding path, shaded on both sides by wide-spread
branches, forming a green arcade above you. When
you reach the top you stand between two mansions,
large, handsome, and substantial, but with nothing
about them indicative of the character of either.
That on your left is the Presidential country-house ;
that directly before you, the ; Rest ' for soldiers who

are too old for further service The

' Home ' only admitted soldiers of the regular army ;
but in the graveyard near at hand there are num-

* San Francisco Bulletin.

224 SEX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Derless graves — some without a spear of grass to
hide their newness — that hold the bodies of volun-
teers.

" While we stood in the soft evening air, watch-
ing the faint trembling of the long tendrils of wav-
ing willow, and feeling the dewy coolness that was
flung out by the old oaks above us, Mr. Lincoln
joined us, and stood silent, too, taking in the scene.

" ' How sleep the brave, who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest,' —

he said, softly.

" There was something so touching in the picture
opened before us, — the nameless graves, the solemn
quiet, the tender twilight air, but more particularly
our own feminine disposition to be easily melted, I
suppose, — that it made us cry as if we stood beside
the tomb of our own dead, and gave point to the
lines which he afterwards quoted : —

" ' And women o'er the graves shall weep,
Where nameless heroes calmly sleep.' "

" Around the ' Home ' grows every variety of
tree, particularly of the evergreen class. Their
branches brushed into the carriage as we passed
along, and left with us that pleasant, woody smell
belonging to leaves. One of the ladies, catching a
bit of green from one of these intruding branches,
said it was cedar, and another thought it spruce.

"'Let me discourse on a theme I understand,'
said the President. ' I know all about trees in

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 225

irght of being a backwoodsman. I '11 show you
the difference between spruce, pine, and cedar, and
this shred of green, which is neither one nor the
other, but a kind of illegitimate cypress.' He then
proceeded to gather specimens of each, and ex-
plain the distinctive formation of foliage belonging
to every species. ' Trees,' he said, ; are as decep-
tive in their likeness to one another as are certain
classes of men, amongst whom none but a physiog-
nomist's eye can detect dissimilar moral features
until events have developed them. Do you know
it would be a good thing if in all the schools pro-
posed and carried out by the improvement of mod-
ern thinkers, we could have a school of events ? '

" 4 A school of events ? ' repeated the lady he
addressed.

" ' Yes,' he continued, ' since it is only by that
active development that character and ability can
be tested. Understand me, I now mean men, not
trees ; they can be tried, and an analysis of their
strength obtained less expensive to life and human
interests than man's. What I say now is a mere
whimsey, you know ; but when I speak of a school
of events, I mean one in which, before entering
real life, 'students might pass through the mimic
vicissitudes and situations that are necessary to
bring out their powers and mark the calibre to
which they are assigned. Thus, one could select
from the graduates an invincible soldier, equal to
any position, with no such word as fail ; a martyr

15

22G SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

to Right, ready to give up life in the caust^ ; a
politician too cunning to be outwitted ; and so on.
These things have all to be tried, and their some-
time* failure creates confusion as well as disappoint-
ment. There is no more dangerous or expensive
analysis than that which consists of trying a man.'

" i Do you think all men are tried ? ' was asked.

u * Scarcely,' said Mr. Lincoln, 4 or so many would
not fit their place so badly. Your friend, Mr.
Beecher, being an eloquent man, explains this well
in his quaint illustration of people out of their
sphere, — the clerical faces he has met with in gay,
rollicking life, and the natural wits and good brains
that have by a freak dropped into ascetic robes.'

" ' Some men seem able to do what they wish in
any position, being equal to them all,' said some one.

" ' Versatility,' replied the President, * is an inju-
rious possession, since it never can be greatness. It
misleads you in your calculations from its very agree-
ability, and it inevitably disappoints you in any great
trust from its want of depth. A versatile man, to
be safe from execration, should never soar ; medioc-
rity is sure of detection.'

" On our return to the city we had reached that
street — I forget its name — crossing which you
iind yourself out of Maryland and in the District
of Columbia. Wondering at this visible boundary
that made certain laws and regulations apply to one
side of a street that did not reach the other, I lost
the conversation, till I found it consisted of a dis-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 227

cursive review of General McClellan's character, in
which I was directly appealed to to know if we had
not at one time considered him the second Napoleon
in California.

44 1 hastened to say that I had found, in travelling
in the New England States, more fervent admirers
of the Unready than I had ever known to expend
speculative enthusiasm upon him among us.

44 4 So pleasant and scholarly a gentleman can
never fail to secure personal friends,' said the Presi-
dent. ; In fact,' he continued, kindly,

1 " Even his failings lean to virtue's side."

A keen sense of genius in another, and a rever-
ence for it that forced expression, was out of place
at Seven Oaks, as beautiful things sometimes will
be. He was lost in admiration of General Lee, and
filled with that feeling, forebore to conquer him.
The quality that would prove noble generosity in a
historian, does not fit the soldier. Another instance
of the necessity for my suggestion being carried into
effect,' he added, smiling.

44 When in New York a few months afterwards,
I heard the regular dinner-table conversation turn
on the 4Nero who cracked jokes while Rome was
burning,' and the hundred and one wicked things
the McClellanites said of Mr. Lincoln, I recalled
the gentle verdict I had heard, and acknowledged
now bitterly a noble Christian gentleman may be
oelied. It was after McClellan's speech at West

228 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Point, and his admirers were wild with enthusiasm
over the learning and classic taste it displayed.
The word 4 scholarly ' rang from mouth to mouth in
characterizing it, — the very word Mr. Lincoln had
used months before in rinding a merciful excuse for
his inefficiency.

" There is one little incident connected with this
visit to the Soldier's Home that remains with me as
connected with my home here. I had always no-
ticed that the bare mention of our California ceme-
tery filled the minds of those who heard it with a sol-
emn sense of awe and sorrow, — ' Lone Mountain ! '
It seemed to rise before them out of the quiet sea, a
vast mausoleum from the hand of God, wherein to
lav the dead. I was not astonished, therefore, when
Mr. Lincoln alluded to it in this way, and gave, in
a few deep-toned words, a eulogy on one of its most
honored dead, Colonel Baker. Having witnessed
the impressive spectacle of that glorious soldier's
funeral, I gave him the meagre outline one can
convey in words, of something which, having been
once seen, must remain a living picture in the
memory forever. I tried to picture the solemn hush
that lay like a pall on the spirit of the people while
the grand procession wound its mournful length
through the streets of the city out on that tear-
stained road to the gate of the cemetery, where the
body passed beneath the prophetic words of Califor-
nia's most eloquent soul, ' Hither in future ages they
shall bring,' etc. When I spoke of' Starr King,' T saw

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 229

how strong a chord I had touched in the great
appreciative heart I addressed ; and giving a weak
dilution of that wondrous draught of soul-lit elo-
quence, that funeral hymn uttered by the priest of
God over the sacred ashes of the advocate and sol-
dier of liberty, whose thrilling threnody seems yet
to linger in the sighing wind that waves the grass
upon the soil made sacred by the treasure it received
that day, I felt strangely impressed as to the power
and grandeur of that mind, whose thoughts, at sec-
ond-hand and haltingly given from memory, could
move and touch the soul of such a man as Abraham
Lincoln as I saw it touched when he listened. It
is the electric chain with which all genius and
grandeur of soul whatsoever is bound, — the free-
masonry by which spirit hails spirit, though unseen.
Now they all three meet where it is not seeing
through a glass darkly, but in the light of a perfect
day."

LXV.

On the morning of Mr. Lincoln's arrival in
Washington, just before his inauguration, it will
be remembered that the Peace Convention was in
session. Among those who were earliest to call
upon him was a gentleman from Pennsylvania, who
had been in Congress with him, and who was a
member of the Peace Convention. He at once
commenced plying the President elect with ur-
gent reasons for compromising matters m dispute,

230 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

saying, " It must be done sooner or later, and that
this seemed the propitious moment." Listening
attentively to all that was said, Mr. Lincoln finally
replied : " Perhaps your reasons for compromising
the alleged difficulties are correct, and that now is
the favorable time to do it ; still, if I remember
correctly, that is not what / was elected for ! "

The same day, at Willard's Hotel, a gentleman
from Connecticut was introduced, who said he
wanted nothing but to take the incoming President
by the hand. Mr. Lincoln surveyed him from head
to foot, and giving him a cordial grasp, replied :
44 You are a rare man."

During the brief period that the Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher was editor-in-chief of the " Inde-
pendent," in the second year of the war, he felt
called upon to pass some severe strictures upon the
course of the administration. For several weeks
the successive leaders of the editorial page were
like bugle-blasts, waking the echoes throughout the
country. Somebody cut these editorials out of the
different numbers of the paper, and mailed them all
to the President under one envelop. One rainy
Sunday he took them from his drawer, and read
them through to the very last word. One or two
of the articles were in Mr. Beecher's strongest style,
and criticized the President in no measured terms.
As Mr. Lincoln finished reading them, his face
flushed up with indignation. Dashing the package
to the floor, he exclaimed, " Is thy servant a dog,
that he should do this thine? "

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 231

The excitement, however, soon passed off, leaving
no trace behind of ill-will toward Mr. Beecher ; and
the impression made upon his mind by the criticism
was lasting and excellent in its effects.

Mr. Lincoln's popularity with the soldiers and the
people is well illustrated in the following incidents.

Just after the presidential nominations had been
made in 1864, a discussion arose in a certain regi-
ment in the Army of the Potomac as to the merits
of the two candidates. Various opinions had been
warmly expressed, when at length a German spoke.
" I goes," said he, " for Fader Abraham. Fader
Abraham, he likes the soldier-boy. Ven he serves
tree years he gives him four hundred tollar, and
reenlists him von veteran. Now Fader Abraham,
he serve four years. We re enlist him four years
more, and make von veteran of Mm"

The night following the election, a clergyman of
Middletown, Conn., at a torchlight display, exhib-
ited a transparency over his door, with a quotation
from Genesis xxii. 15, — " The angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of heaven a second time."

A few days before the reinauguration of Mr.
Lincoln, my picture was placed temporarily on ex-
hibition in the Rotunda of the Capitol. As the
workmen were raising it to its place, over the north-
ern door leading to the Senate Chamber, a group
gathered in front of it, among whom was police-
man R , of the Capitol squad. As the painting

reached its position, a wandering sunbeam crept in
from the top of the great dome and settled full upon

232 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the head of Mr. Lincoln, leaving all the rest of the
picture in shadow. The effect was singular and
wonderful. " Look ! " exclaimed the enthusiastic

R -, pointing to the canvas ; " that is as it

should be. God bless him ; may the sun shine
upon his head forever. "

LXVI.

The 22d of February, 1865, Lieutenant Cushing
of the Navy reached Washington, from the fleet
at Wilmington, with the news of the capture of
Fort Anderson. This gallant officer, only twenty
or twenty-one years of age, had greatly distin-
guished himself by planning and successfully accom-
plishing the destruction of the rebel ram Savannah,
also in the construction of the M bogus " monitor
which played so effectual a part in the capture of
Fort Anderson. He was introduced to the Presi-
dent by the Secretary of the Navy, and was re-
ceived in the most cordial manner. Sitting down
for an hour's talk, Mr. Lincoln, who was in high
spirits over the late military successes, sparkled
with humor. Temporarily upon the wall of the
room was a portrait of himself recently painted for
Secretary Welles by a Connecticut artist friend.
Turning to the picture, Mr. Welles remarked that
lie thought it a successful likeness. "Yes," re-
turned the President, hesitatingly ; and then came
«i story of a western friend whose wife pronounced

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 233

her husband's portrait, painted secretly for a birth
day present, " horridly like ; " " and that," said he,
" seems to me a just criticism of this ! " The liabil-
ity to " mistakes," so many instances of which had
occurred during the war, both on land and sea, was
illustrated by reference to a charitably disposed
woman, with a very indifferent face, who, while
visiting the rooms of the Young Men's Christian
Association, or a similar institution, caught sight of
her own reflection in a concealed looking-glass,
upon which she retired in great confusion, saying
she would have nothing more to do with an institu-
tion which one could not visit without meeting dis-
reputable characters.

Lieutenant Cushing related a circumstance show
ing the estimation in which General Sherman was
held by the rebel privates. A deserter of this
class had lately fallen into his hands. " Our boys,"
said he, speaking of the Rebels, " say General Sher-
man never makes but one speech. When ready for
a movement, he says : i Now boys, let 's get ready
to go ; ' and they get ready," said the deserter,
" on both sides."

" There is a good deal of mother-wit in some
of those fellows," rejoined Mr. Lincoln, much
amused. " That puts me in mind of a conversa-
tion between two opposing pickets, just after Hooker
fell back across the Rappahannock, after the battle
of Chancellorville. ' Where 's Old Joe?' called
out a ' butternut ' one frosty morning. ( Gone to

'2 A SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Stonewall Jackson's funeral,' was the ready reply.
* What is the reason you " Johnnies " never have
any decent clothes ? ' hallooed the 4 Union ' boy
back. ' We-uns don't put on our best to kill hogs
in,' was the retort."

I was sitting in the President's office with Mr
G. B. Lincoln, of Brooklyn, and the Hon. John
A. Bingham, of Ohio, — who were there by ap-
pointment of the President, — the Sunday even-
ing before the reinauguration, when Mr. Lincoln
came in through' the side passage which had lately
been constructed, holding in his hand a roll of man-
uscripts.

" Lots of wisdom in that document, I suspect,"
said he ; " it is what will be called my ' second in-
augural,' containing about six hundred words. I
will put it away here in this drawer until I want
it."

Seating himself by the open grate, he commenced
conversation in a familiar and cheerful mood, refer-
ring to his early life in Illinois. Nothing, he said,
had ever gratified him so much as his first election
to the legislature of that State, just after his return
from the Black-Hawk war. In the election dis-
trict a large majority were Democrats, and he was
known as a " talking Whig." Nevertheless, he
said, in a vote of two hundred, he received all but
three.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WRITE HOUSE. 285

lxvh.

44 The world," writes one who knew Mr. Lincoln
well, " will never hear the last of the 'little stories'
with which the President garnished or illustrated
his conversation and his early stump-speeches. He
once said, however, that as near as he could reckon,
about one sixth only of those credited to him were
old acquaintances, — all the rest were the produc-
tions of other and better story-tellers than himself.
* I remember a good story when I hear it,' he con-
tinued ; 4 but I never invented anything original ; I
am only a retail-dealer.' " *

44 Mr. Lincoln's jocoseness," wrote another,
44 though sometimes grim and sarcastic, was never
abusive, and seldom wounded. Often nicely adapted
to the place and the occasion, it was used, as the
case might be, either as a shield or a weapon." f

Humor and shrewdness, together with a certain
nameless individuality, were combined in his stories
in a degree that will secure for many of them en-
during interest. These characteristics, marked and
prominent as they were, are directly traceable to
the powerful effect produced upon the plastic mind
of the pioneer boy, by the early study of jEsop's
Fables, and the 44 Pilgrim's Progress." His licrht-
est as well as his most powerful thought almost in-
variably took on the form of a figure in speech

* Noah Brooks, Hater's Monthly, July, 1865.
t Boston Watchman and Reflector.

236 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

which drove the point Jiome, and clinched it, as
few abstract reasoners are able to do.

The character of this volume, necessarily ram-
bling and fragmentary, seems to present a legiti-
mate field for the incorporation and preservation of
some of the best of Mr. Lincoln's u little stories "
and quaint sayings, other than those which came
within my own personal observation. Beside these,
there has accumulated in my possession a variety
of incidents, many of which have never been pub-
lished, throwing light not only upon the character
of the man, but upon many events and circum-
stances connected with the war and the adminis-
tration.

Believing everything of this kind to have more
than a temporary interest and value, I devote the
following section to their embodiment.

Lxvm.

Mr. Lincoln made his first political speech in
1832, at the age of twenty-three, when he was a
candidate for the Illinois Legislature. His oppo-
nent had wearied the audience by a long speech,
leaving him but a short time in which to present his
views. He condensed all he had to say into a few
w ->rds, as follows : —

"Gentlemen, Fellow - citizens : I presume you
know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln.
T have been solicited by many friends to become a

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 237

candidate for the legislature. My politics can be
briefly stated. I am in favor of a national bank.
I am in favor of the internal improvement system,
and a high protective tariff. These are my senti-
ments and political principles. If elected, I shall be
thankful. If not, it will be all the same."

The contrast between Mr. Lincoln and Senator
Douglas is well brought out in the following ex-
tract from a speech by Hon. I. N. Arnold of Illi-
nois, in 1863. Speaking of their great contest for
the senatorship, Mr. Arnold said : —

" Douglas went through this campaign like a con-
quering hero. He had his special train of cars, his
band of music, his body-guard of devoted friends, a
cannon carried on the train, the firing from which
announced his approach to the place of meeting.
Such a canvass involved, necessarily, very large ex-
penditures ; and it has been said that Douglas did
not expend less than $50,000 in this canvass. Some
idea of the plain, simple, frugal habits of Mr. Lin-
coln may be gathered, when I tell you that at its
close, having occupied several months, Mr. Lincoln
said, with the idea, apparently, that he had been
somewhat extravagant : ' I do not believe [ have
spent a cent less than five hundred dollars in this
canvass.' "

Soon after Mr. Lincoln entered upon the practice
of his profession at Springfield, he was engaged in
a criminal case in which it was thought there was
little chance of success. Throwing all his powers

238 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

into it, he came off victorious, and promptly received
for his services five hundred dollars. A legal friend
calling upon him the next morning found him sit-
ting before a table, upon which his money was
spread out, counting it over and over. " Look here,
Judge," said he ; " see what a heap of money I 've

got from the case. Did you ever see anything

like it ? Why, I never had so much money in my
life before, put it all together ! " Then crossing his
arms upon the table, his manner sobering down, he
added, " I have got just five hundred dollars : if it
was only seven hundred and fifty, I would go di-
rectly and purchase a quarter section of land, and
settle it upon my old step-mother." His friend said
that if the deficiency was all. he needed, he would
loan him the amount, taking his note, to which Mr.
Lincoln instantly acceded.

His friend then said : " Lincoln, I would not do
just what you have indicated. Your step-mother
is getting old, and will not probably live many
years. I would settle the property upon her for
her use during her lifetime, to revert to you upon
her death."

With much feeling, Mr. Lincoln replied : " I
shall do no such thing. It is a poor return, at the
best, for all the good woman's devotion and fidelity
to me, and there is not going to be any half-way
business about it ; " and so saying, he gathered up
his money, and proceeded forthwith to carry his
long-cherished purpose into execution.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 250

Among the numerous delegations which thronged
Washington in the early part of the war was one
from New York, which urged very strenuously the
sending of a fleet to the southern cities, — Charles-
ton, Mobile, and Savannah, — with the object of
drawing oft* the rebel army from Washington.
Mr. Lincoln said the project reminded him of the
case of a girl in New Salem, who was greatly
troubled with a " singing " in her head. Various
remedies were suggested by the neighbors, but
nothing tried afforded any relief. At last a man
came along, — "a common-sense sort of man," said
he, inclining his head towards the gentleman com-
plimentarily, — " who was asked to prescribe for the
difficulty. After due inquiry and examination, he
said the cure was very simple. ■ What is it ? ' was
the anxious question. ' Make a plaster of psalm-
tunes, and apply to her feet, and draw the u sing-
ing " down,' was the rejoinder."

On another occasion, an antislavery delegation,
also from New York, were pressing the adoption of
the emancipation policy. During the interview the
" chairman," the Rev. Dr. C , made a charac-
teristic and powerful appeal, largely made up of
quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures. Mr.
Lincoln received the " bombardment " in silence.
As the speaker concluded, he continued for a mo-
ment in thought, and then, drawing a long breath,
responded : " Well, gentlemen, it is not often one
is favored with a delegation direct from the Al-
mighty ! "

240 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

One of Mr. Lincoln's Springfield neighbors, a
clergyman, visiting Washington early in the ad-
ministration, asked the President what was to be
his policy on the slavery question. " Well," said
he, " I will answer by telling you a story. You
know Father B., the old Methodist preacher ? and
you know Fox River and its freshets ? Well, once
in the presence of Father B., a young Methodist
was worrying about Fox River, and expressing
fears that he should be prevented from fulfilling
some of his appointments by a freshet in the river.
Father B. checked him in his gravest manner.
Said he : ' Young man, I have always made it a
rule in my life not to cross Fox River till I vet
to it!' And," added Mr. Lincoln, "I am not
going to worry myself over the slavery question
till I get to it."

General Garfield, of Ohio, received from the
President an account of the capture of Norfolk,
similar to that recorded on a previous page, with
the following preface : —

" By the way, Garfield," said Mr. Lincoln, "you
never heard, did you, that Chase, Stanton, and I,
had a campaign of our own ? We went down to
Fortress Monroe in Chase's revenue cutter, and
consulted with Admiral Goldsborough as to the
feasibility of taking Norfolk by landing on the north
shore and making a march of eight miles. The
Admiral said, very positively, there was no landing
on that shore, and we should have to double the

• SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 241

jape and approach the place from the south side,
which would be a long and difficult journey. I
thereupon asked him if he had ever tried to find a
landing, and he replied that he had not. i Now,'
said I, ■ Admiral, that reminds me of a chap out
West who had studied law, but had never tried a
case. Beino; sued, and not having; confidence in
his ability to manage his own case, he employed a
fellow-lawyer to manage it for him. He had only a
confused idea of the meaning of law terms, but was
anxious to make a display of learning, and on the
trial constantly made suggestions to his lawyer, who
paid no attention to him. At last, fearing that his
lawyer was not handling the opposing counsel very
well, he lost all patience, and springing to his feet
cried out, " Why don't you go at him with a capias,
or a surre-bntter, or something, and not stand then1
like a confounded old nudum-p actum f9* ' "

An officer of the Government called one day at
the White House, and introduced a clerical friend.
" Mr. President," said he, " allow me to present to

you my friend, the Rev. Mr. F., of . Mr. F.

has expressed a desire to see you and have some
conversation with you, and I am happy to be the
means of introducing him." The President shook
Stands with Mr. F., and desiring him to be seated
took a seat himself. Then, his countenance having
assumed an air of patient waiting, he said : " I
am now ready to hear what you have to say."
" Oh, bless you, sir." said Mr. F., " I have nothing

16

242 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. •

special to say ; I merely called to pay my respects
to you, and, as one of the million, to assure you of
my hearty sympathy and support." " My dear
sir," said the President, rising promptly, his face
showing instant relief, and with both hands grasp-
ing ...that of his visitor, "I am very glad to see
vou, indeed, i" thought you had come to preach to
me ! "

On the way to the cemetery dedication at Get-
tysburg, Mr. Lincoln said to his friend, McVeagh.
of Pennsylvania, speaking of Governor Gamble and
the administration troubles in Missouri : — "I do
not understand the spirit of those men who, in such
a time as this, because they cannot have a whole
loaf will take no bread. For my part, I am willing
to receive any man, or class of men, who will help
us even a little"

On the same occasion, when the Presidential
party reached Hanover Junction they found a large
concourse of people assembled to greet them. Mr.
Lincoln and Secretary Seward, an hour previous,
had gone into the sleeping-car attached to the train,
for some rest. In response to the clamor of the
crowd, a friend intruded upon them, saying to the
President that he was " expected to make a speech."

44 No ! " he rejoined, very emphatically ; " I had
enough of that sort of thing all the way from
Springfield to Washington. Seward," said he,
turning over in his berth, " you go out and repeat
some of your '•poetry' to the people ! "

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 243

Upon the betrothal of the Prince of Wales to
the Princess Alexandra, Queen Victoria sent a let-
ter to each of the European sovereigns, and alsc
to President Lincoln, announcing the fact. Lord
Lyons, her ambassador at Washington, — a "bach-
elor," by the way, — requested an audience of Mr.
Lincoln, that he might present this important doc-
ument in person. At the time appointed he was
received at the White House, in company with Mr.
Seward.

" May it please your Excellency," said Lord
Lyons, " I hold in my hand an autograph letter
from my royal mistress, Queen Victoria, which I
have been commanded to present to your Excel-
lency. In it she informs your Excellency that her
son, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, is
about to contract a matrimonial alliance with her
Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra of Den-
mark."

After continuing in this strain for a few minutes,
Lord Lyons tendered the letter to the President
and awaited his reply. It was short, simple, and
expressive, and consisted simply of the words : —

" Lord Lyons, go thou and do likewise."

It is doubtful if an' English ambassador was ever
addressed in this manner before, and it would be
interestino- to learn what success he met with in
putting the reply in diplomatic language when he
reported it to her Majesty.

The antagonism between the northern and south-

244 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

era sections of the Democratic party, which cul-
minated in the nomination of two separate tickets
in 1860, was a subject to draw out one of Mr. Lin-
coln's hardest hits.

" I once knew," said he, " a sound churchman
by the name of Brown, who was a member of a
very sober and pious committee having in charge
the erection of a bridge over a dangerous and rapid
river. Several architects failed, and at last Brown
said he had a friend named Jones, who had built
several bridges and undoubtedly could build that
one. So Mr. Jones was called in. 4 Can you build
this bridge ? ' inquired the committee. ' Yes,' re-
plied Jones, ' or any other. I could build a bridge
to the infernal regions, if necessary ! ' The com-
mittee were shocked, and Brown felt called upon
to defend his friend. s I know Jones so well,' said
he, l and he is so honest a man and so good an
architect, that if he states soberly and positively

that he can build a bridge to — to , why, I

believe it ; but I feel bound to say that I have my
doubts about the abutment on the infernal side.'
So," said Mr. Lincoln, " when politicians told me
that the northern and southern wings of the Dem-
ocracy could be harmonized, why, I believed them,
of course ; but I always had my doubts about the
1 abutment ' on the other side." *

About the time Mr. Lincoln began to be known
as a successful lawyer, he was waited upon by a

* Abbott's History oftite Civil War.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 245

lady, who held a real-estate claim which, she desired
to have him prosecute, — putting into his hands,
with the necessary papers, a check for two hundred
and fifty dollars, as a retaining fee. Mr. Lincoln
said he would look the case over, and asked her to
call again the next day. Upon presenting herself,
Mr. Lincoln told her that he had gone through the
papers very carefully, and he must tell her frankly
that there was not a " peg " to hang her claim upon,
and he could not conscientiously advise her to bring
an action. The lady was satisfied, and, thanking
him, rose to go. " Wait," said Mr. Lincoln, fum-
bling in his vest pocket ; " here is the check you
left with me." " But, Mr. Lincoln," returned the
lady, "I think you have earned that." "No, no,"
he responded, handing it back to her; " that would
not be right. I can't take pay for doing my duty."

Mr. Lincoln liked to feel himself the attorney of
the people, not their ruler. Speaking once of the
probability of his renomination, he said : " If the
people think I have managed their ' case ' for them
well enough to trust me to carry it up to the next
term, I am sure I shall be glad to take it."

M Judge Baldwin of California, being in Wash-
ington, called one day on General Halleck, and,
presuming upon a familiar acquaintance in Califor-
nia a few years before, solicited a pass outside of
>>ur lines to see a brother in Virginia, not thinking
tfiat he would meet with a refusal, as both his
brother and himself were good Union men. " We

246 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

have been deceived too often," said General Hal-
leck, " and I regret I can't grant it.'' Judge B.
then went to Stanton, and was very briefly disposed
of, with the same result. Finally, he obtained an
interview witli Mr. Lincoln, and stated his case.
11 Have you applied to General Halleck ? " inquired
the President. " Yes, and met with a flat refusal,"
said Judge B. " Then you must see Stanton,"
continued the President. " I have, and with the
same result," was the reply. M Well, then," said
Mr. Lincoln, with a smile, " I can do nothing ; for
you must know that I have very little influence with
this Administration"

Mr. Colfax told me of a gentleman's going to
the President, one day, with a bitter denunciation
of Secretary Stanton and his management of the
War Department. " Go home, my friend,',' inter-
rupted Mr. Lincoln, " and read attentively the tenth
verse of the thirtieth chapter of Proverbs ! " *

A lieutenant, whom debts compelled to leave his
father-land and service, succeeded in being admitted
to President Lincoln, and, by reason of his com-
mendable and winning deportment and intelligent
appearance, was promised a lieutenant's commission
in a cavalry regiment. He was so enraptured with
his success, that he deemed it a duty to inform the
President that he belonged to one of the oldest
noble houses in Germany. " Oh, never mind that,'

* " Accuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thoe, and thcu
oe found guilty."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 247

said Mr. Lincoln ; " you will not find that to be an
obstacle to your advancement."

Just previous to the fall of Vicksburg, a self-
constituted committee, solicitous for the morale of
our armies, took it upon themselves to visit the
President and urge the removal of General Grant.
In some surprise Mr. Lincoln inquired, " For what
reason ? " " Why," replied the spokesman, " he
drinks too much whiskey." " Ah ! " rejoined Mr.
Lincoln, dropping his lower lip. " By the way,
gentlemen, can either of you tell me where Gen-
eral Grant procures his whiskey ? because, if I
can find out, I will send every general in the field
a barrel of it ! "

When the telegram from Cumberland Gap
reached Mr. Lincoln that " firing was heard in
the direction of Knoxville," he remarked that he
was " glad of it." Some person present, who had
the perils of Burnside's position uppermost in his
mind, could not see why Mr. Lincoln should be
glad of it, and so expressed himself. " Why, you
see," responded the President, " it reminds me of
Mistress Sallie Ward, a neighbor of mine, who had
a very large family. Occasionally one of her nu-
merous progeny would be heard crying in some
out-of-the-way place, upon which Mrs. Ward would
exclaim, ' There 's one of my children that is n't
dead yet.' "

A gentleman once complimented the President
m having no vices, neither drinking nor smoking.

24S SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" That is a doubtful compliment," answered the
President ; " I recollect once being outside a stage-
coach, in Illinois, and a man sitting by me offered
me a cigar. I told him I had no vices. He said
nothing, but smoked for some time, and then growled
out : ' It 's my experience that folks who have no
vices have generally very few virtues.' '

Mr. Lincoln's aversion to calls for a speech that
must be merely " off-hand," was decided ; yet, un-
willing altogether to disappoint the crowds, who
perhaps too often made such demands of him, he
seldom excused himself altogether from speaking.
One evening a friend wras conversing with him in
his room, when his quick ear caught the sound of
approaching music, and his countenance suddenly
changed, as he inquired its meaning, though readily
divining it. A serenade was presently announced
by an usher, and Mr. Lincoln, as he arose to go
forward to the front window, lingered a moment,
and said : —

" These ■ serenade ' speeches bother me a good
deal, they are so hard to make. I feel very much
like the steam doctor, who said he could get along
very well in his practice with almost every case,
but he was always a little puzzled when it came to
mending a broken leg."

It has been repeatedly said that Mr. Lincoln
lacked imagination and poetic sensibility. Surely,
the soul which could conceive the last inaugural, or
indite the closing sentence of the first, was not
wanting in these elements : —

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 249

" The mystic chords of memory, stretching from
every battle-field and patriot grave to every living
heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will
yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angek
of our nature.1 '

Neither was the mind deficient in enthusiasm,,
which could prophesy: —

k4 There are already those among us, who, if the
Union be preserved, will live to see it contain two
hundred and fifty millions. The struggle of to-day
is not altogether for to-day ; it is for a vast future
also."

" The President," said a leading member of the
Cabinet, on one occasion, " is his own War-Minis-
ter. He directs personally the movements of the
armies, and is fond of strategy ; but pays much less
attention to official details than is generally sup-
posed."

Mr. Lincoln's wit was never malicious nor rudely
personal. Once when Mr. Douglas had attempted
to parry an argument by impeaching the veracity
of a senator whom Mr. Lincoln had quoted, he
answered that the question was not one of veracity,
but simply one of argument. " By a course of
reasoning, Euclid proves that all the angles in a
triangle are equal to two right angles. Now, if
you undertake to disprove that proposition, would
you prove it to be false by calling Euclid a liar ? " *

* Speech at Charleston, September 18th, 1858.

250 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

A couple of well-known New York gentlemen
called upon the President one day to solicit a par-
don for a man who, while acting as mate of a sailing
vessel, had struck one of his men a blow which
resulted in his death. Convicted and sentenced for
manslaughter, a powerful appeal was made in his
behalf, as he had previously borne an excellent
character. Giving the facts a hearing, Mr. Lincoln
responded : —

" Well, gentlemen, leave your papers, and I will
have the Attorney-General, Judge Bates, look them
over, and we will see what can be done. Being
both of us <• pig eon-hearted ' fellows, the chances are
that, if there is any ground wmatever for interfer-
ence, the scoundrel will get off! "

Attorney-General Bates was once remonstrating
with the President against the appointment to a ju-
dicial position of considerable importance of a west-
ern man, who, though once on the. "bench," was
of indifferent reputation as a lawyer.

" Well now, Judge," returned Mr. Lincoln, " I

think you are rather too hard on . Besides

that, I must tell you, he did me a good turn long
ago. When I took to the law, I was going to court
one morning, with some ten or twelve miles of

bad road before me, when overtook me in his

wagon. i Hallo, Lincoln ! ' said he ; ' going to the
court-house ? come in and I will give you a seat.'

Well, 1 got in, and went on reading his papers

Presently the wagon struck a stump on one side of

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 251

the road ; then it hopped off to the other. I looked
out and saw the driver was jerking from side to side
in his seat : so said I, ■ Judge, I think your coach-
man has been taking a drop too much this morning.'
4 Well, I declare, Lincoln,' said he, 4 I should not
much wonder if you are right, for he has nearly
upset me half-a-dozen times since starting.' So,
putting his head out of the window, he shouted,
4 Why, you infernal scoundrel, you are drunk!'
Upon which, pulling up his horses and turning
round with great gravity, the coachman said : 4 Be-
dad ! but that 's the first rightful . decision your
honor has given for the last twelve months.' "

Some gentlemen fresh from a western tour, dur-
ing a call at the White House, referred in the
course of conversation to a body of water in Ne-
braska which bore an Indian name signifying
" weeping water." Mr. Lincoln instantly re-
sponded : " As 4 laughing water,' according to
Longfellow, is 4 Minnehaha,' this evidently should
be 4 Minneboohoo.' "

A farmer from one of the border counties went to
the President on a certain occasion with the com-
plaint that the Union soldiers in passing his farm
had helped themselves not only to hay but to his
horse ; and he hoped the proper officer would be
required to consider his claim immediately.

44 Why, my good sir," replied Mr. Lincoln, 44 If
I should attempt to consider every such individual
case, I should find work enough for twenty Presi-

252 SIX MONT iIS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

dents ! In my early days, I knew one Jack Chase,
who was a lumberman on the Illinois, and, when
steady and sober, the best raftsman on the river. It
was quite a trick twenty-five years ago to take the
logs over the rapids, but he was skilful with a raft,
and always kept her straight in the channel. Finally
a steamer was put on, and Jack — he 's dead now,
poor fellow ! — was made captain of her. He al-
ways used to take the wheel going through the
rapids. One day, when the boat was plunging and
wallowing along the boiling current, and Jack's
utmost vigilance was being exercised to keep her in
the narrow channel, a boy pulled his coat-tail and
hailed him with : i Say, Mister Captain ! I wish you
would just stop your boat a minute — I ve lost my
apple overboard ! ' "

At a time of financial difficulty, a committee of
New York bankers waited upon the Secretary of
the Treasury and volunteered a loan to the govern-
ment, which was gratefully accepted. Mr. Chase
subsequently accompanied the gentlemen to the
White House and introduced them to the Presi-
dent, saying they had called to have a talk with him
about money. " Money," replied Mr. Lincoln ; " I
don't know anything about ' money? I never had
enough of my own to fret me, and I have no opin-
ion about it any way."

" It is considered rather necessary to the carry-
ing on of a war, however," returned the Secretary.

" Well, I don't know about that," rejoined Mr.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 253

Lincoln, turning crosswise in his chair, swinging
both legs backward and forward. " We don't
read that ' Hannibal ' had any i money ' to prosecute
his wars with."

The President was one day speaking of a visit
lie had just received from another delegation of
bankers, from New York and Boston, who had been
urging the removal of General Cameron from the
Cabinet.

" They talked very glibly," said he, " especially

a man named G from Boston ; and I finally

told them as much — adding, nevertheless, that I
was not convinced. ' Now,' said I, ' gentlemen, if
you want General Cameron removed, you have
only to bring me one proved case of dishonesty, and
I promise you his " head " ; but I assure you I am
not going to act on what seems to me the most

CD CD

unfounded gossip.' "

The Hon. Mr. Hubbard of Connecticut once
called upon the President in reference to a newly
invented gun, concerning which a committee had
been appointed to make a report.

The " report " was sent for, and when it came in
was found to be of the most voluminous description.
Mr. Lincoln glanced at it, and said : u I should
want a new lease of life to read this through ! "
Throwing it down upon the table, he added : " Why
can't a committee of this kind occasionally ex-
hibit a grain of common sense ? If I send a man
to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me

254 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

his ''■points'' — not how many hairs there are in his
tail."

Late one evening, the President brought in to see
my picture his friend and biographer, the Hon. J.

H. Barrett, and a Mr. M , of Cincinnati. An

allusion to a question of law in the course of con-
versation suggesting the subject, Mr. Lincoln said :
" The strongest example of 4 rigid government ' and
4 close construction ' I ever knew, was that of Judge

. It was once said of him that he would hang

a man for blowing his nose in the street, but that he
would quash the indictment if it failed to specify
which hand he blew it with ! "

A new levy of troops required, on a certain occa-
sion, the appointment of a large additional number
of brigadier and major-generals. Among the im-
mense number of applications, Mr. Lincoln came
upon one wherein the claims of a certain worthy
(not in the service at all) for a generalship were
glowingly set forth. But the applicant did n't
specify whether he wanted to be' brigadier. or major-
general. The President observed this difficulty, and
solved it by a lucid indorsement. The clerk, on
receiving the paper again, found written across its
back : " Major-Gene ral, I reckon. A. Lincoln."

A juvenile " Brigadier" from New York, with a
small detachment of cavalry, having imprudently
gone within the Rebel lines near Fairfax Court
House, was captured by " guerillas." Upon the
fact being reported to Mr. Lincoln, he said that he
was verv sorry to lose the horses !

SIX MONTHS Ar THE WHITE HOUSE. 255

u What do you mean ? " inquired his informant.

" Why," rejoined the President, " I can make
a better 4 brigadier ' any day ; but those horses cost
the government a hundred and twenty-five dollars a
head ! "

Mr. Lincoln sometimes had a very effective way
of dealing with men who troubled him with ques-
tions. A visitor once asked him how many men
the Rebels had in the field. The President replied,
very seriously, " Twelve hundred thousand, accord-
ing to the best authority." The interrogator blanched
in the face, and ejaculated, " Good Heavens ! "
" Yes sir, twelve hundred thousand — no doubt of
it. You see, all of our generals, when they get
whipped, say the enemy outnumbers them from
three or five to one, and I must believe them. We
have four hundred thousand men in the field, and
three times four make twelve. Don't you see it ? "

Some gentlemen were discussing in Mr. Lincoln's
presence on a certain occasion General McClellan's
military capacity. "It is doubtless true that he is
a good c engineer,' said the President ; but he seems
to have a special talent for developing a i stationary *
eno-ine."

When Mr. Lincoln handed to his friend Gilbert
his appointment as assessor in the Wall Street dis-
trict, New York, he said : " Gilbert, from what I
can learn, I judge that you are going upon good
missionary ' ground. Preach God and Liberty to
the i bulls ' and ' bears,' and get all the money you
car for the government ! "

256 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

A gentleman calling at the White House one
evening carried a cane, which, in the course of con-
versation, attracted the President's attention. Tak-
ing it in his hand, he said : " I always used a cane
when I was a boy. It was a freak of mine. My
favorite one was a knotted beech stick, and I carved
the head myself. There 's a mighty amount of
character in sticks. Don't you think oO ? You
have seem these fishing-poles that fit into a cane ?
Well that was an old idea of mine. Dogwood clubs
were favorite ones with the boys. I suppose they
use them yet. Hickory is too heavy, unless' you get
it from a. young sapling. Have you ever noticed
how a stick in one's hand will change his appear-
ance ? Old women and witches would n't look so
without sticks. Meg Merrilies understands that."

One of Mr. Lincoln's "illustrations" in my hear-
ing, on one occasion, was of a man who, in driving
the hoops of a hogshead to wt head " it up, was
much annoyed by the constant falling in of the top.
At length the bright idea struck him of putting his
little boy inside to " hold it up." This he did ; it
never occurring to iiim till the job was done, how
he was to get his child out. " This," said he, " is
a fair sample of the way some people always do
business."

In a time of despondency, some visitors wTere tell-
ing the President of the " breakers " so often seen
ahead — " this time surely coming." " That,"
said he, " suggests the story of the school-boy,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 257

who never could pronounce the names 4 Sha-
dracli,' ' Meshach,' and ' Abednego.' He had been
repeatedly whipped for it without effect. Some-
time afterwards he saw the names in the regular
lesson for the day. Putting his finger upon the
place, he turned to his next neighbor, an older boy,
and whispered, l Here come those " tormented He-
brews " again.' "

Referring to the divisions upon the Missouri
Compromise, Mr. Lincoln once said : " It used to
amuse me to hear the slave-holders talk about
wanting more territory, because they had not
room enough for their slaves ; and yet they com-
plained of not having the slave-trade, because they
wanted more slaves for their room."

Speaking on a certain occasion, of a prominent
man who had the year before been violent in his
manifestations of hostility to the Administration,
but was then ostensibly favoring the same policy
previously denounced, Mr. Lincoln expressed his
entire readiness to treat the past as if it had not
been, saying, " I choose always to make my ' stat-
ute of limitations ' a short one."

At the White House one day some gentlemen
were present from the West, excited and troubled
about the commissions or omissions of the Admin-
istration. The President heard them patiently,
and then replied : •" Gentlemen, suppose all the
property you were worth was in gold, and you had
out it in the hands of Blondin to carry across the
17

258 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Niagara River on a rope, would you shake the
cable, or keep shouting out to him, ■ Blondin,
stand up a little straighter — Blondin, stoop a little
more — so a little faster — lean a little more to
the north — lean a little more to the south.' No,
you would hold your breath as well as your tongue,
and keep your hands off until he was safe over.
The Government are carrying an immense weight.
Untold treasures are in their hands. They are
doing the very best they can. Don't badger them.
Keep silence, and we '11 get you safe across."

The President was once speaking of an attack
made on him by the Committee on the Conduct of
the War, for a certain alleged blunder, or some
thing worse, in the Southwest — the matter in-
volved being one which had fallen directly under
the observation of the officer to whom he was
talking, who possessed official evidence completely
upsetting all the conclusions of the Committee.

" Might it not be well for me," queried the
officer, " to set this matter right in a letter to some
paper, stating the facts as they actually trans-
pired?"

"Oh, no," replied the President, "at least, not
now. If I were to try to read, much less answer,
all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well
be closed for any other business. I do the very
best I know how — the very best I can ; and I
mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end
brings me out all right, what is said against me

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 259

wdh't amount to anything. If the end brings me
out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would
make no difference."

44 1 shall ever cherish among the brightest mem-
ories of my life," says the Rev. J. P. Thompson,
of New York, " the recollection of an hour in Mr.
Lincoln's working-room in September, '64, which

was one broad sheet of sunshine I

spoke of the rapid rise of Union feeling since the
promulgation of the Chicago Platform, and the
victory at Atlanta ; and the question was started,
which had contributed the most to the reviving of
Union sentiment — the victory or the platform.
4 1 guess,' said the President, 4 it was the victory ;
at any rate, I 'd rather have that repeated.' "

Being informed of the death of John Morgan,
he said : 44 Well, I would n't crow over anybody's
death ; but I can take this as resignedly as any dis-
pensation of Providence."

The celebrated case of Franklin W. Smith and
brother, was one of those which most largely
helped to bring military tribunals into public con-
tempt. Those two gentlemen were arrested and
kept in confinement, their papers seized, their
business destroyed, their reputation damaged, and
a naval court-martial, 44 organized to convict,"
pursued them unrelentingly till a wiser and juster
hand arrested the malice of their persecutors, li
is known that President Lincoln, after full inves-
tigation of the case, annulled the whole proceed-

260 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

tngs, but it is remarkable that the actual record *of
his decision could never be obtained from the Navy
Department. An exact copy being withheld, the
following was presented to the Boston Board of
Trade as being very nearly the words of the late
President : —

u Whereas, Franklin W. Smith had transactions with

the Navy Department to the amount of one million and

a. quarter of a million of dollars ; and whereas, he had

the chance to steal a quarter of a million, and was only

charged with stealing twenty-two hundred dollars —

and the question now is about his stealing a hundred —

I don't believe he stole anything at all. Therefore, the

record and findings are disapproved — declared null and

void, and the defendants are fully discharged."
»
" It would be difficult," says the New York

" Tribune," " to sum up the rights and wrongs of
the business more briefly than that, or to find a
paragraph more characteristically and unmistakably
Mr. Lincoln's."

A gentleman was pressing very strenuously the
promotion of an officer to a-" Brigadiership." " But
we have already more generals than we know
what to do with," replied the President. " But,"
persisted the visitor, " my friend is very strongly
recommended." " Now, look here," said Mr. Lin-
coln, throwing one leg over the arm of his chair,
"you are a farmer, I believe ; if not, you will un-
derstand me. Suppose you had a large cattle-
yard full of all sorts of cattle, — cows, oxon, bulls,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 261

— and you kept killing and selling and disposing
rf your cows and oxen, in one way and another, —
caking good care of your bulls. By-and-by you
would find that you had nothing but a yard full of
Did bulls, good for nothing under heaven. Now, it
will be just so with the army, if I don't stop
making brigadier- generals."

Captain Mix, the commander, at one period, of
the President's body-guard, told me that on their
way to town one sultry morning, from the " Sol-
diers' Home," they came upon a regiment march-
ing into the city. A " straggler," very heavily
loaded with camp equipage, was accosted by the
President with the question : " My lad, what is
that?" referring to the designation of his regi-
ment. " It 's a regiment," said the soldier, curtly,
plodding on, his gaze bent steadily upon the ground.
" Yes, I see that," rejoined the President, " but I
want to know tvhat regiment." " Pennsyl-
vania," replied the man in the same tone, looking
neither to the right nor the left. As the carriage
passed on, Mr. Lincoln turned to Captain Mix and
said, with a merry laugh, " It is very evident that
chap smells no blood of ' royalty ' in this establish-
ment."

Captain Mix was frequently invited to breakfast
with the family at the "Home " residence. " Many
times," said he, " have I listened to our most elo-
quent preachers, but never with the same feeling of
awe and reverence, as when our Christian Presi-

262 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

dent, his arm around his son, with his deep, ear-
nest tone, each morning read a chapter from the
Bible."

Some one was discussing, in the presence of Mr.
Lincoln, the character of a time-serving Washing-
ton clergyman. Said Mr. Lincoln to his visitor: —

" I think you are rather hard upon Mr. .

He reminds me of a man in Illinois, who was tried
for passing a counterfeit bill. It was in evidence
that before passing it he had taken it to the cashier
of a bank and asked his opinion of the bill, and ho
received a very prompt reply that it was a counter-
feit. His lawyer, who had heard of the evidence
to be brought against his client, asked him, just
before going into court, i Did you take the bill to
the cashier of the bank and ask him if it was good?*
i I did,' was the reply. ' Well, what was the reply
of the cashier ? ' The rascal was in a corner, but
he got out of it in this fashion : ' He said it was a
pretty tolerable, respectable sort of a bill.' '

Mr. Lincoln thought the clergyman was "a pretty
tolerable, respectable sort of a clergyman."

A visitor, congratulating Mr. Lincoln on the
prospects of his reelection, was answered with an
anecdote of an Illinois farmer who undertook to
blast his own rocks. His first effort at producing
an explosion proved a failure. He explained the
cause by exclaiming, " Pshaw, this powder has been
shot before I "

An amusing, yet touching instance of the Pre^i-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 263

dent's preoccupation of mind, occurred at one of
his levees, when he was shaking hands with a host
of visitors passing him in a continuous stream. An
intimate acquaintance received the usual conven-
tional hand-shake and salutation, but perceiving that
he wTas not recognized, kept his ground instead of
moving on, and spoke again ; when the President,
roused to a dim consciousness that something un-
usual had happened, perceived who stood before
him, and seizing his friend's hand, shook it again
heartily, saying, " How do you do ? How do you
do? Excuse me for not noticing you. I was
thinking of a man down South." He afterward
privately acknowledged that the "man down South"
was Sherman, then on his march to the sea.

Mr. Lincoln may not have expected death from
the hand of an assassin, but he had an impression,
amounting to a " presentiment," that his life would
end with the war. This was expressed not only to
Mr. Lovejoy, as stated on a previous page, but to
Mrs. Stowe and others.

" He told me, in July, 1864," says a correspond-
ent of the Boston " Journal," " that he was certain
he should not outlast the rebellion.

" It was a time of dissension among the Repub-
lcan leaders. Many of his best friends had deserted
Dim, and were talking of an opposition convention
to nominate another candidate ; and universal gloom
was among the people.

" The North was tired of the war, and supposed

264 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

an honorable peace attainable. Mr. Lincoln knew
it was not, — that any peace at that time would be
only disunion. Speaking of it, he said: 'I have
faith in the people. They will not consent to dis-
union. The danger is, in their being misled. Let
them know the truth, and the country is safe.' He
looked haggard and careworn ; and further on in
the interview I remarked on his appearance, ' You
are wearing yourself out with work.' 4 I can't
work less,' he answered ; ' but it is n't that, —
work never troubled me. Things look badly, and
I can't avoid anxiety. Personally, I care nothing
about a reelection ; but if our divisions defeat us, I
fear for the country.' When I suggested that
right must eventually triumph, that I had never
despaired of the result, he said : —

" 4 Neither have I, but I may never live to see
it. I feel a presentiment that I shall not outlast
the Rebellion. When it is over, my work will be
done.' "

" The Freedmen," once said the President to the
Secretary of War, " are the ' wards ' of the na-
tion."

" Yes," replied Stanton, " wards in chancery."

A few days before the President's death, Secre-
tary Stanton tendered his resignation of the War
Department. He accompanied the act with a heart-
felt tribute to Mr. Lincoln's constant friendship
and faithful devotion to the country ; saying, also,
that he as Secretary had accepted the position to

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 265

hold it only until the war should end, and that
now he felt his work was done, and his duty was to
resign.

Mr. Lincoln was greatly moved by the Secre-
tary's words, and tearing in pieces the paper con-
taining the resignation, and throwing his arras about
the Secretary, he said : " Stanton, you have been a
good friend and a faithful public servant, and it
is not for you to say when you will no longer be
needed here." Several friends of both parties were
present on the occasion, and there was not a dry
eye that witnessed the scene.

" On the night of the 3rd of March, the Secre-
tary of War, with others of the Cabinet, were in
the company of the President, at the Capitol, await-
ing the passage of the final bills of Congress. In
the intervals of reading and signing these docu-
ments, the military situation was considered, — the
lively conversation tinged by the confident and
glowing account of General Grant, of his mastery
of the position, and of his belief that a few days
more would see Richmond in our possession, and
the army of Lee either dispersed utterly or cap-
tured bodily, — when the telegram from Grant
was received, saying that Lee had asked an inter-
view with reference to peace. Mr. Lincoln was
elated, and the kindness of his heart was manifest
in intimations of favorable terms to be granted to
the conquered Rebels.

" Stanton listened in silence, restraining his emo-

266 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

tion, but at length the tide burst forth. ' Mr. Pres-
ident,' said lie, ' to-morrow is inauguration day. If
you are not to be the President of an obedient and
united people, you had better not be inaugurated.
Your work is already done, if any other authority
than yours is for one moment to be recognized, 01
any terms made that do not signify you are the
supreme head of the nation. If generals in the
field are to negotiate peace, or any other chief mag-
istrate is to be acknowledged on this continent, then
you are not needed, and you had better not take
the oath of office.'

" ' Stanton, you are right ! ' said the President,
his whole tone changing. ' Let me have a pen.'

" Mr. Lincoln sat down at the table, and wrote
as follows : —

" ' The President directs me to say to you that
he wishes you to have no conference with General
Lee, unless it be for the capitulation of Lee's army,
or on some minor or purely military matter. He
instructs me to say that you are not to decide, dis-
cuss, or confer upon any political question. Such
questions the President holds in his own hands, and
will submit them to no military conferences or con-
ventions. In the mean time you are to press to the
utmost your military advantages.'

" The President read over what he had written,
and then said : —

" ' Now Stanton, date and sign this paper, and
send it to Grant. We '11 see about this peace busi-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 26*1

" The duty was discharged only too gladly by
the energetic and far-sighted Secretary ; with what
effect and renown the country knows full well." *

Governor Yates, of Illinois, in a speech at Spring-
field, quoted one of Mr. Lincoln's early friends —
W. T. Greene — as having said that the first time
he ever saw Mr. Lincoln, he was in the Sangamon
River with his trousers rolled up five feet, more or
less, trying to pilot a flat-boat over a mill-dam.
The boat was so full of water that it was hard to
manage. Lincoln got the prow over, and then,
instead of waiting to bail the water out, bored a
hole through the projecting part and let it run out;
affording a forcible illustration of the ready ingenu-
ity of the future President in the quick invention
of moral expedients.

" Some two years ago," said Colonel Forney, in
a speech at Weldon, Pennsylvania, before the " Sol-
diers' Aid Society," in 1865, " a deputation of col-
ored people came from Louisiana, for the purpose
of laying before the President a petition asking cer-
tain rights, not including the right of universal
suffrage. The interview took place in the pres-
ence of a number of distinguished gentlemen. After
reading their memorial, he turned to them and said :
1 1 regret, gentlemen, that you are not able to se-
cure all your rights, and that circumstances will not
oermit the government to confer them upon you.
I wish you would amend your petition, so as to

* Boston Commonwealth

268 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HCLSfc.

include several suggestions which I think will give
more effect to your prayer, and after having done
so please hand it to me.' The leading colored man
said : ' If you will permit me, I will do so here.'
4 Are you, then, the author of this eloquent pro-
duction ? ' asked Mr. Lincoln. ■ Whether eloquent
or not,' was the reply, " it is my work ; ' and the
Louisiana negro sat down at the President's side
and rapidly and intelligently carried out the sug-
gestions that had been made to him. The Southern
gentlemen who were present at this scene did not
hesitate to admit that their prejudices had just re-
ceived another shock.

" To show the magnanimity of Mr. Lincoln, I
may mention that on one occasion, when an edito-
rial article appeared in my newspaper, the Wash-
ington ' Chronicle,' speaking well of the bravery
and the mistaken sincerity of Stonewall Jackson,
the news of whose death had been just received,
the President wrote me a letter thanking me warmly
for speaking kindly of a fallen foe. These were his
words : —

" i I honor you for your generosity to one who,
though contending against us in a guilty cause, was
nevertheless a gallant man. Let us forget his sins
over his fresh-made grave.'

" Again, I happened to be in the Executive
Chamber when a number of Kentuckians insisted
that troops should not be sent through that State
for the purpose of putting down the rebel spirit in

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 269

Tennessee. The President was hesitating what to
do, and they were pressing immediate action.

" 4 1 am,' he said, 4 a good deal like the farmer
who, returning to his home one winter night, found
his two sweet little boys asleep with a hideous ser-
pent crawling over their bodies. He could not
strike the serpent without wounding or killing the
children, so he calmly waited until it had moved
away. Now I do not want to act in a hurry about
this matter ; I don't want to hurt anybody in Ken-
tucky ; but I will get the serpent out of Tennessee.'

" And he did march through Kentucky, to the
aid of Andrew Johnson's mountaineers."

" The roll containing the Emancipation Procla-
mation was taken to Mr. Lincoln at noon on the
first day of January, 1863, by Secretary Seward
and his son Frederick. As it lay unrolled before
him, Mr. Lincoln took a pen, dipped it in ink,
moved his hand to the place for the signature, held
it a moment, and then removed his hand and dropped
the pen. After a little hesitation he again took up
the pen and went through the same movement as
before. Mr. Lincoln then turned to Mr. Seward,
and said : —

" i I have been shaking hands since nine o'clock
this morning, and my right arm is almost paralyzed.
If my name ever goes into history it will be for
this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand
trembles when I sign the Proclamation, all who
examine the document hereafter will say, " Ht hes
itated." '

270 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" He then turned to the table, took up the pen
again, and slowly, firmly wrote that ' Abraham Lin-
coln ' with which the whole world is now familiar.
He looked up, smiled, and said : 4 That will do.' " *

What Mr. Lincoln's policy on the subject of
" reconstruction " would have been, had he lived,
is clearly foreshadowed in the following extract
from a letter to General Wadsworth, who was
killed in one of the battles of the Wilderness.
Few sentences from Mr. Lincoln's lips or pen are
more worthy the profound consideration and re-
membrance of his countrymen.

u You desire to know, in the event of our com-
plete success in the field, the same being followed
by a loyal and cheerful submission on the part of
the South, if universal amnesty should not be ac-
companied with universal suffrage.

" Now, since .you know my private inclinations
as to what terms should be granted to the South in
the contingency mentioned, I will here add, that
if our success should thus be realized, followed by
such desired results, I cannot see, if universal am-
nesty is granted, how, under the circumstances, I
can avoid exacting in return universal suffrage, or
at least suffrage on the basis of intelligence and
military service.

" How to better the condition of the colored race
has long been a study which has attracted my seri-
ous and careful attention ; hence I think I am clear

* Rochester (New York) Express.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 271

and decided as to what course I shall pursue in the
premises, regarding it a religious duty, as the na-
tion's guardian of these people who have so hero-
ically vindicated their manhood on the battle-field,
where, in assisting to save the life of the Republic,
they have demonstrated in blood their right to the
ballot, which is but the humane protection of the
flag they have so fearlessly defended."

When Mr. Lincoln was in Congress, General
Cass was nominated by the Democratic party for
President. In a speech on the floor of the House
shortly afterward, Mr. Lincoln subjected the politi-
cal course of the candidate to scathing criticism.
Quoting extracts from the speeches of General
Cass, to show his vacillation in reference to the
Wilmot Proviso, he added : " These extracts show
that in 1846 GeneraJ Cass was for the Proviso at
once ; that in March, 1847, he was still for it, but
not just then ; and that in December, he was against
it altogether. This is a true index of the whole
man. When the question was raised in 1846, he
was in a blustering hurry to take ground for it, . . .
but soon he began to see glimpses of the great Dem-
ocratic ox-gad waving in his face, and to hear indis-
tinctly a voice saying : ' Back ! back, sir ! back a
little ! ' He shakes his head, and bats his eyes, and
blunders back to his position of March, 1847 ; but
still the ' gad ' waves, and the voice grows more
distinct and sharper still : i Back, sir ! back, I say !
further back ! ' and back he goes to the position of

275, SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

December, 1847, at which the k gad ' is still, and
the voice soothingly says : l So ! stand still at
that ! ' "

A party of gentlemen, among whom was a doc-
tor of divinity of much dignity of manner, calling
at the White House on? day, was informed by the
porter that the President was at dinner, but that he
would present their cards. The doctor demurred
to this, saying that he would call again. " Edward "
assured them that he thought it would make no dif-
ference, and went in with the cards. In a few min-
utes the President walked into the room, with a
kindly salutation, and a request that the friends
would take seats. The doctor expressed his regret
that their visit was so ill-timed, and that his Ex-
cellency «was disturbed while at dinner. " Oh !
no consequence at all," said Mr. Lincoln, good-
naturedly. u Mrs. Lincoln is absent at present,
and when she is away, I generally i browse '
around."

" Upon entering the President's office one after-
noon," says a Washington correspondent, " I found
Mr. Lincoln busily counting greenbacks. 4 This,
sir,' said he, ' is something out of my usual line ;
but a President of the United States has a multi-
plicity of duties not specified in the Constitution or
acts of Congress. This is one of them. This money
belongs to a poor negro who is a porter in the
Treasury Department, at present very bad with the
small-pox. He is now in hospital, and could noi

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 27-3

draw his pay because he could not sign his name. I
have been at considerable trouble to overcome the
difficulty and get it for him, and have at length suc-
ceeded in cutting red tape, as you newspaper men
say. I am now dividing the money and putting by
a portion labelled, in an envelope, with my own
hands, according to his wish ; ' and he proceeded to
indorse the package very carefully." No one wit-
nessing the transaction could fail to appreciate the
goodness of heart which prompted the President of
the United States to turn aside for a time from his
weighty cares to succor one of the humblest of his
fellow-creatures in sickness and sorrow.

When General Phelps took possession of Ship
Island, near New Orleans, early in the war, it will
be remembered that he issued a proclamation, some-
what bombastic in tone, freeing the slaves. To the
surprise of many people, on both sides, the Presi-
dent took no official notice of this movement. Some
time had elapsed, when one day a friend took him to
task for his seeming indifference on so important a
matter.

" Well," said Mr. Lincoln, " I feel about that a
good deal as a man whom I will call 4 Jones,' whom
I once knew, did about his wife. He was one of
your meek men, and had the reputation of being
badly henpecked. At last, one day his wife was
seen switching him out of the house. A day or
two afterward a friend met him in the street, and
said : : Jones, I have always stood up for you, as you

18

274 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

know ; but I am not going to do it any longer
Any man who will stand quietly and take a switch
ing from his wife, deserves to be horsewhipped.'
4 Jones ' looked up with a wink, patting his friend
on the back. ' Now dont^ said he : ' why, it didn't
hurt me any; and you 've no idea what a 'power of
good it did Sarah Ann ? ' "

The Rev. Dr. Bellows, of New York, as Presi-
dent of the Sanitary Commission, backed by power-
ful influences, had pressed with great strenuousness
upon the President the appointment of Dr. Ham-
mond as Surgeon-General. For some unexplained ,
reason, there was an unaccountable delay in making
the appointment. One stormy evening — the rain
fallino; in torrents — Dr. Bellows, thinking few vis-
itors likely to trouble the President in such a storm,
determined to make a final appeal, and stepping
into a carriage, he was driven to the White House.
Upon entering the Executive Chamber, he found Mr.
Lincoln alone, seated at the long table, busily en-
gaged in signing a heap of congressional documents,
which lay before him. He barely nodded to Dr.
Bellows as he entered, having learned what to ex-
pect, and kept straight on with his work. Standing
opposite to him, Dr. B. employed his most powerful
arguments, for ten or fifteen minutes, to accomplish
the end sought, the President keeping steadily on
simiino; the documents before him. Pausing, at
length, to take breath, the clergyman was greeted
in the most unconcerned manner, the pen still at

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 2<0

work, with, — " Should n't wonder if Hammond
was at this moment 4 Surgeon-General,' and had
been for some time."

44 You don't mean to say, Mr. President," asked
Dr. B. in surprise, " that the appointment has been
made ? "

44 I may say to you," returned Mr. Lincoln, for
the first time looking up, 44 that it has ; only you
need n't tell of it just yet."

In August, 1864, the prospects of the Union
party, in reference to the Presidential election,
became very gloomy. A friend, the private sec-
retary of one of the cabinet ministers, who spent
a few days in New York at this juncture, re-
turned to Washington with so discouraging an
account of the political situation, that after hearing
it, the Secretary told him to go over to the White
House and repeat it to the President. My friend
said that he found Mr. Lincoln alone, looking more
than usually careworn and sad. Upon hearing the
statement, he walked two or three times across the
floor in silence. Returning, he said with grim ear-
nestness of tone and manner : 44 Well, I cannot run
the political machine ; I have enough on my hands
without that. It is the people's business, — the
election is in their hands. If they turn their backs
to the fire, and get scorched in the rear, they '11
find they have got to 4 sit ' on the 4 blister ' ! "

Mr. Lincoln came to have an almost morbid
dread of office-seekers, from whose importunity the

270 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

executive of a republican government can neces-
sarily never be free. Harassed with applications
of every description, he once said that it sometimes
seemed as if every visitor " darted at him, and
with thumb and finger carried off a portion of his
vitality."

As the day of his reinauguration approached, he
said to Senator Clark, of New Hampshire, " Can't
you and others start a public sentiment in favor of
making no changes in offices except for good and
sufficient cause ? It seems as though the bare
thought of going through again what I did the
first year here, would crush me." To another he
said, " I have made up my mind to make very few
changes in the offices in my gift for my second
term. I think now that I will not remove a sin-
gle man, except for delinquency. To remove a
man is very easy, but when I go to fill his place,
there are twenty applicants, and of these I must
make nineteen enemies." " Under these circum-
stances," says one of his friends, " Mr. Lincoln's
natural charity for all was often turned into an
unwonted suspicion of the motives of men whose
selfishness cost him so much wear of mind. Once
he said, i Sitting here, where all the avenues to
public patronage seem to come together in a knot,
it does seem to me that our people are fast ap-
proaching the point where it can be said that
seven eighths of them are trying to find how to
live at the expense of the other eighth."

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 277

A year or more before Mr. Lincoln's death, a
delegation of clergymen waited upon him in refer-
ence to the appointment of the army chaplains. The
delegation consisted of a Presbyterian, a Baptist,
and an Episcopal clergyman. They stated that the
character of many of the chaplains was notoriously
bad, and they had come to urge upon the Presi-
dent the necessity of more discretion in these ap-
pointments. "But, gentlemen," said the Presi-
dent, " that is a matter which the Government has
nothing to do with ; the chaplains are chosen by
the regiments." Not satisfied with this, the cler-
gymen pressed, in turn, a change in the system.
Mr. Lincoln heard them through without remark,
and then said, " Without any disrespect, gentle-
men, I will tell you a 4 little story.' Once, in
Springfield, I was going off on a short journey, and
reached the depot a little ahead of time. Leaning
against the fence just outside the depot was a little
darkey boy, whom I knew, named ' Dick,' busily
digging with his toe in a mud-puddle. As I came
up, I said, 4"Dick," what are you about? ' ' Mak-
ing a " church" ' said he. WA church ? ' said I ; ' what
do you mean ? ' ' Why, yes,' said ' Dick,' point-
ing with his toe, 4 don't you see ? there is the shape
of it ; there 's the " steps " and " front-door " —
here the u pews," where the folks set — and there 's
the " pulpit." ' 4 Yes, I see,' said I, ' but why don't
y ou make a " minister ? "' c Laws,' answered ' Dick,'
with a grin, c I hain't got mud enough ! ' "

278 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Mr. Lincoln had a dread of people who could not
appreciate humor. He once instanced a member
of his own cabinet, of whom he quoted the saying
of Sydney Smith, that " it required a surgical
operation to get a joke into his head." The light
trifles of conversation diverted his mind, or, as he
said of his theatre-going, gave him " a refuge from
himself and his weariness."

One of the last stories I heard from Mr. Lin-
coln was concerning John Tyler, for whom it was
to be expected, as an old Henry Clay Whig, he
would entertain no great respect. " A year or two
after Tyler's accession to the Presidency," said he,
" contemplating an excursion in some direction, his
son went to order a special train of cars. It so
happened that the railroad superintendent was a
very strong Whig. On i Bob's ' making known
his errand, that official bluntly informed him that
his road did not run any special trains for the Presi-
dent. ' What ! ' said ' Bob,' 4 did you not furnish
a special train for the funeral of General Har-
rison ? ' 'Yes,' said the superintendent, stroking
his whiskers ; i and if you will only ' bring your
father here in tha* shape, you shall have the best
train on the road . '

"Once — on what was called a 'public day,' when
Mr. Lincoln received all applicants in their turn —
the writer* was struck by observing, as he passed
th> ough the corridor, the heterogeneous crowd of

* Colonel Charles G. Halpine, New York Citizen.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 279

men and women, representing all ranks and classes,
who were gathered in the large waiting-room out-
[side the Presidential suite of offices.

" Being ushered into the President's chamber by
Major Hay, the first thing he saw was Mr. Lincoln
bowing an elderly lady out of the door, — the Pres-
ident's remarks to her being, as she still lingered
and appeared reluctant to go: 'I am really very
sorry, madam ; very sorry. But your own good
sense must tell you that I am not here to collect
small debts. You must appeal to the courts in
regular order.'

u When she was gone, Mr. Lincoln sat down,
crossed his legs, locked his hands over his knees,
and commenced to laugh, — this being his favorite
attitude when much amused.

"'What odd kinds of people come to see me,'
he said ; ' and what odd ideas they must have
about my office ! Would you believe it, Major,
that old lady who has just left, came in here to get
from me an order for stopping the pay of a treas-
ury clerk, who owes her a board-bill of about sev-
enty dollars ? ' And the President rocked himself
backward and forward, and appeared intensely
amused.

" ■ She may have come in here a loyal woman/
continued Mr. Lincoln ; 4 but I '11 be bound she
has gone away believing that the worst pictures of
me in the Richmond press only lack truth in not
being half black and bad enough.'

280 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" This led to a somewhat general conversation, ir
which I expressed surprise that he did not adopt
the plan in force at all military head-quarters, un-
der which every applicant to see the general com-
manding had to be filtered through a sieve of
officers, — assistant adjutant-generals, and so forth,
— who allowed none in to take up the general's time
save such as they were satisfied had business of
sufficient importance, and which could be trans-
acted in no other manner than by a personal
interview.

" ' Of every hundred people who come to see the
general-in-chief daily,' I explained, * not ten have
any sufficient business with him, nor are they
admitted. On being asked to explain for what
purpose they desire to see him, and stating it, it is
found, in nine cases out of ten, that the business
properly belongs to some one or other of the sub-
ordinate bureaus. They are then referred, as the
case may be, to the quartermaster, commissary,
medical, adjutant-general, or other departments,
with an assurance that even if they saw the
general-in-chief he could do nothing more for
them than give the same direction. With these
points courteously explained,' I added, ' they go
away quite content, although refused admittance.'

" 4 Ah, yes!' said Mr. Lincoln, gravely, — and
his words on this matter are important as illus-
trating a rule of his action, and to some extent,
perhaps, the essentially representative character of

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 281

his mind and of his administration, — ' ah, yes,
such things do very well for you military people,
with your arbitrary rule, and in your camps. But
the office of President is essentially a civil one, and
the affair is very different. For myself, I feel —
though the tax on my time is heavy — that no
hours of my day are better employed than those
which thus bring me again within the direct contact
and atmosphere of the average of our whole people.
Men moving only in an official circle are apt to
become merely official — not to say arbitrary — in
their ideas, and are apter and apter, with each
passing day, to forget that they only hold power in
a representative capacity. Now this is all wrong.
I go into these promiscuous receptions of all who
claim to have business with me twice each week,
and every applicant for audience has to take his
turn, as if waiting to be shaved in a barber's shop.
Many of the matters brought to my notice are
utterly frivolous, but others are of more or less
importance, and all serve to renew in me a clearer
and more vivid image of that great popular assem-
blage out of which I sprung, and to which at the
end of two years I must return. I tell you, Ma-
jor,' he said, — appearing at this point to recollect
I was in the room, for the former part of these
remarks had been made with half-shut eyes, as if
in soliloquy, — ' I tell you that I call these recep-
tions my "public-opinion baths;" for I have but
ttttle time to read the papers and gather public

282 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

opinion that way ; and though they may not be
pleasant in all their particulars, the effect, as a
whole, is renovating and invigorating to my per
ceptions of responsibility and duty.' '

No nobler reply ever fell from the lips of ruler,
than that uttered by President Lincoln in response
to the clergyman who ventured to say, in his pres-
ence, that he hoped " the Lord was on our side."

" I am not at all concerned about that," replied
Mr. Lincoln, " for I know that the Lord is always
on the side of the right. But it is my constant anx-
iety and prayer that /and this nation should be on
the Lord's side."

In the midst of the despondency produced bv the
raid on Washington, in the summer of 1864, and
the successful return of the Rebel force to Rich
inond, the President's Proclamation of July 18th
appeared, calling for five hundred thousand more
men.

In view of the impending presidential canvass,
Mr. Lincoln's strongest friends looked upon this
step, at this time, as calculated to utterly defeat his
chances of reelection. Commissioner Dole ventured
to say as much upon the President's announcement
to him of his contemplated purpose.

" It matters not what becomes of me," replied
Mr. Lincoln ; " we must have the men ! If I go
down, I intend to go like the Cumberland, with
my colors flying ! "

Upon Mr. Lincoln's return to Washington, after

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 283

the capture of Richmond, a member of the Cabinet
asked him if it would be proper to permit Jacob
Thompson to slip through Maine in disguise, and-
embark from Portland. The President, as usual, was
disposed to be merciful, and to permit the arch-rebel
to pass unmolested, but the Secretary urged that he
should be arrested as a traitor. " By permitting
him to escape the penalties of treason," persistently
remarked the Secretary, " you sanction it." "Well,"
replied Mr. Lincoln, "let me tell you a story.
There was an Irish soldier here last summer, who
wanted something to drink stronger than water, and
stopped at a drug-shop, where he espied a soda-foun-
tain. 'Mr. Doctor,' said he, 'give me, plase, a
glass of soda-bather, an' if yees can put in a few
drops of whiskey unbeknown to any one, I '11 be
obleeged.' Now," continued Mr. Lincoln, " if
Jake Thompson is permitted to go through Maine
unbeknown to any one, what 's the harm ? So don't
have him arrested."

I asked the President, during the progress of the
battles of the Wilderness, how General Grant per-
sonally impressed him as compared with other offi-
cers of the army, and especially those who had been
in command.

" The great thing about Grant," said he, u I
take it, is his perfect coolness and persistency of
purpose. I judge he is not easily excited, — which
is a great element in an officer, — and he has the
grit of a bull-dog ! Once let him get his ' teeth *
m, and nothing can shake him off."

284 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

One of the latest of Mr. Lincoln's stories was
told to a party of gentlemen, who, amid the turn
bling ruins of the 4 Confederacy,' anxiously asked
u what he would do with ' Jeff. Davis ' ? "

" There was a boy in Springfield," rejoined Mr.
Lincoln, " who saved up his money and bought a
k coon,' which, after the novelty wore off, became a
great nuisance. He was one day leading him through
the streets, and had his hands full to keep clear of
the little vixen, who had torn his clothes half off
of him. At length ]le sat down on the curb-stone,
completely fagged out. A man passing was stopped
by the lad's disconsolate appearance, and asked the
matter. c Oh,' was the reply, ■ this coon is such
a trouble to me ! ' i Why don't you get rid of him,
then ? ' said the gentleman. 4 Hush ! ' said the boy ;
fc don't you see he is gnawing his rope off? I am
going to let him do it, and then I will go home and
toll the folks that he got away from mef ■

LXIX.

The last story told by Mr. Lincoln was drawn
out by a circumstance which occurred just before
the interview with Messrs. Colfax and Ashmun, on
the evening of his assassination.

Marshal Lamon of Washington had called upon
him with an application for the pardon of a soldier.
After a brief hearing the President took the appb

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 285

cation, and when about to write his name upon the
back of it, he looked up and said : u Lamon, have
you ever heard how the Patagonians eat oysters ?
They open them and throw the shells out of the
window until the pile gets higher than the house,
and then they move ; " adding : " I feel to-day like
commencing a new pile of pardons, and I may as
well begin it just here."

At the subsequent interview with Messrs. Colfax
and Aslimun, Mr. Lincoln was in high spirits.
The uneasiness felt by his friends during his visit to
Richmond was dwelt upon, when he sportively
replied that he " supposed he should have been
uneasy also, had any other man been President
and gone there ; but as it was, he felt no appre-
hension of danger whatever." Turning to Speaker
Colfax, he said : " Sumner has the ■ gavel ' of the
Confederate Congress, which he got at Richmond,
and intended to give to the Secretary of War, but
I insisted he must give it to you, and you tell him
from me to hand it over."

Mr. Ashmun, who was the presiding officer of
the Chicago Convention in 1860, alluded to the
" gavel " used on that occasion, saying he had pre-
served it as a valuable memento.

Mr. Ashmun then referred to a matter of busi-
ness connected with a cotton claim, preferred by a
client of his, and said that he desired to have a
'* commission " appointed to examine and decide

286 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

upon the merits of the case. Mr. Lincoln replied,
with considerable warmth of manner, " I have done
with t commissions.' I believe they are contrivances
to cheat the Government out of every pound of cotton
they can lay their hands on." Mr. Ashmun's face
flushed, and he replied that he hoped the President
meant no personal imputation.

Mr. Lincoln saw that he had wounded his. friend,
and he instantly replied : " You did not understand
me, Ashmun. I did not mean what you inferred.
1 take it all back." Subsequently he said : " I
apologize to you, Ashmun."

He then engaged to see Mr. Ashmun early the
next morning, and taking a card, he wrote :

" Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come in at
9 A. m. to-morrow. A. Lincoln."

These were his last written words. Turning to
Mr. Colfax he said : " You will accompany Mrs.
Lincoln and me to the theatre, I hope ? " Mr.
Colfax pleaded other engagements, — expecting to
start on his Pacific trip the next morning. The
party passed out on the portico together, the Presi-
dent saying at the very last, " Colfax, don't forget
to tell the people of the mining regions what I told
you this morning about the development when
peace comes ; " then shaking hands with both gen-
tlemen, he followed Mrs. Lincoln into the carriage,
leaning forward, at the last moment, to say as they
were driven off, "I will telegraph you, Colfax, at

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 287

San Francisco," — passing thus forth for the last
time from under that roof into the creeping shad-
ows which were to settle before another dawn into
a funeral pall upon the orphaned heart of the
nation.

LXX.

" On the Monday before the assassination,*
when the President was on his return from Rich-
mond, he stopped at City Point. Calling upon
the head surgeon at that place, Mr. Lincoln told
him that he wished to visit all the hospitals under
his charge, and shake hands with every soldier.
The surgeon asked if he knew what he was
undertaking, there being five or six thousand
soldiers at that place, and it w„ould be quite a
tax upon his strength to visit all the wards and
shake hands with every soldier. Mr. Lincoln an-
swered with a smile, he ' guessed he was equal to
the task ; at any rate he would try, and go as far
as he could ; he should never, probably, see the
boys again, and he wanted them to know that he*
appreciated what they had done for their country.'

" Finding it useless to try to dissuade him, the
surgeon began his rounds with the President, who
walked from bed to bed, extending his hand to all,
saying a few words of sympathy to some, making

* Correspondence of the N. Y. Independent.

288 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

kind inquiries of others, and welcomed by all with
the heartiest cordiality.

" As they passed along, they came to a ward in
which lay a Rebel who had been wounded and was
a prisoner. As the tall figure of the kindly visitor
appeared in sight he was recognized by the Rebel
soldier, who, raising himself on his elbow in bed,
watched Mr. Lincoln as he approached, and extend-
ing his hand exclaimed, while tears ran down his
cheeks : c Mr. Lincoln, I have long wanted to see
you, to ask your forgiveness for ever raising my
hand against the old flag.' Mr. Lincoln was moved
to tears. He heartily shook the hand of the re-
pentant Rebel, and assured him of his good-will,
and with a few words of kind advice passed on.

" After some hours the tour of the various hospi-
tals was made, and Mr. Lincoln returned with the
surgeon to his office. They had scarcev entered,
however, when a messenger came saying that one
ward had been omitted, and * the boys ' wanted to
see the President. The surgeon, who was thor-
oughly tired, and knew Mr. Lincoln must be, tried
to dissuade him from going ; but the good man said
he must go back ; he would not knowingly bmit one,
1 the boys ' would be so disappointed. So he went
with the messenger, accompanied by the surgeon,
and shook hands with the gratified soldiers, and
then returned again to the office.

" The surgeon expressed the fear that the Pres-
ident's arm would be lamed wTith so much hand-

SEX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 289

shaking, saying that it certainly must ache. Mr.
Lincoln smiled, and saying something about his
4 strong muscles,' stepped out at the open door,
took up a very large, heavy axe which lay there by
a log of wood, and chopped vigorously for a few
moments, sending the chips flying in all directions ;
and then, pausing, he extended his right arm to its
full length, holding the axe out horizontally, with-
out its even quivering as he held it. Strong men
who looked on — men accustomed to manual labor
— could not hold the same axe in that position for
a moment. Returning to the office, he took a glass
of lemonade, for he would take no stronger bever-
age ; and while he was within, the chips he had
chopped were gathered up and safely cared for by
a hospital steward, because they w^ere ' the chips
that Father Abraham chopped.' In a few hours

more the beloved President was at home in Wash

■

ington ; in a few days more he had passed away
and a bereaved nation was in mourning."

LXXI.

Mr. Lincoln returned from Richmond with a
heart-full purpose to issue immediately a proclama-
tion for a day of National Thanksgiving. " Baby-
lon " had fallen, and with his own eyes, as from
another Pisgah, he had looked over into the prom-
ised land of Peace, — a land which, like his great
prototype, his feet were not to tread !

19

290 ■ SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

During his absence from Washington, Secretary
Seward met with the serious accident by which his
arm and jaw were broken. Mr. Lincoln's first visit
was to the house of the Secretary, who was con-
fined to his bed by his injuries. After a few words
of sympathy and condolence, with a countenance
beaming with joy and satisfaction, he entered upon
an account of his visit to Richmond, and the glori-
ous success of Grant, — throwing himself, in his
almost boyish exultation, at full length across the
bed, supporting his head upon one hand, and in this
manner reciting the story of the collapse of the
Rebellion. Concluding, he lifted himself up and
said : " And now for a day of Thanksgiving ! "
Mr. Seward entered fully into his feelings, but ob-
served, with characteristic caution, that the issue
between Sherman and Johnston had not yet been
decided, and a premature celebration might have
the effect to nerve the remaining army of the
Confederacy to greater desperation. He advised,
therefore, no official designation of a day " until
the result of Sherman's combinations was known."
Admitting the force of the Secretary's view, Mr.
Lincoln reluctantly gave up the purpose, and three
days later suffered in his own person the last, most
atrocious, but culminating act of the most wicked
of all rebellions recorded on the pages of history !
It was the last interview on earth between the
President and his Secretary of State.

This incident, related by Mr. Seward to a friend *

* .1. C Derby, Esq., 'of New York.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 291

while slowly recovering from the murderous attack
upon himself, was followed by an interesting account
of his personal relations with Mr. Lincoln. " No
knife was ever sharp enough to divide us upon
any question of public policy," said the Secretary ;
" though we frequently arrived at the same con-
clusion through different processes of thought."
" Once only," he continued, musingly, "did we dis-
agree in sentiment." Mr. D. inquired the subject
of dissent. " His ' colonization ' scheme," was the
reply, " which I opposed on the self-evident prin-
ciple that all natives of a country have an equal
right in its soil."

The knowledge of the terrible calamity which
had befallen the nation was rigidly withheld from
Mr. Seward at the time, his physician fearing that
the shock wrould be too great for him to bear. The
Sunday following, he had his bed wheeled around
so that he could see the tops of the trees in the
park opposite his residence, — just putting on their
spring foliage, — when his eyes caught sight of the
Stars and Stripes at half-mast on the War Depart-
ment, on which he gazed awhile, then turning tc
his attendant, said : " The President is dead ! "
The confused attendant stammered as he tried to
say nay ; but the Secretary could not be deceived.
" If he had been alive, he would have been the
first to call on me," he continued ; " but he has not
been here, nor has he sent to know how I am ; and
there is the flao at half-mast." The statesman's

292 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

inductive reason had discerned the truth, and in *
silence the great tears coursed down his gashed
cheeks, as it sank into his heart.

lxxh.

At the Cabinet meeting held the morning of the
day of the assassination, it was afterward remem-
bered, a remarkable circumstance occurred. Gen-
eral Grant was present, and during a lull in the
discussion the President turned to him and asked
if he had heard from General Sherman. General
Grant replied that he had not, but was in hourly
expectation of receiving despatches from him an-
nouncing the surrender of Johnston.

" Well," said the President, " you will hear
very soon now, and the news will be important."

" Why do you think so ? " said the General.

" Because," said Mr. Lincoln, u I had a dream
last night ; and ever since the war began, I have
invariably had the same dream before any impor-
tant military event occurred." He then instanced
Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, etc., and said
that before each of these events, he had had the
same dream ; and turning to Secretary Welles,
said : " It is in your line, too, Mr. Welles. The
dream is, that I saw a ship sailing very rapidly ;
and I am sure that it portends some important
national event."

Later in the day, dismissing all business, the

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 293

carriage was ordered for a drive. When asked by
Mrs. Lincoln if he would like any one to accom-
pany them, he replied, " No ; I prefer to ride by
ourselves to-day." Mrs. Lincoln subsequently said
that she never saw him seem so supremely happy
as on this occasion. In reply to a remark to this
effect, the President said : " And well I may feel
so, Mary, for I consider this day the war has come
to a close." And then added: " We must both be
more cheerful in the future ; between the war and
the loss of our darling Willie, we have been very
miserable."

Little " Tad's " frantic grief upon being told
that his father had been shot was alluded to in
the Washington correspondence of the time. For
twenty-four hours the little fellow was perfectly
inconsolable. Sunday morning, however, the sun
rose in unclouded splendor, and in his simplicity he
looked upon this as a^ token that his father was
happy. " Do you think my father has gone to
heaven ? " he asked of a gentleman who had called
upon jVlrs. Lincoln. " I have not a doubt of it,"
was the reply. " Then," he exclaimed, in his
broken way, " I am glad he has gone there, for he
never was happy after he came here. This was
lot a good place for him ! "

294 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Lxxin.

" President Lincoln," says the Hon. W. D
Kelly,* "was a large and many-sided man, and
yet so simple that no one, not even a child, could
approach him without feeling that he had found in
him a sympathizing friend. I remember that I
apprised him of the fact that a lad, the son of one
of my townsmen, had served a year on board the
gunboat Ottawa, and had been in two important
engagements; in the first as a powder-monkey,
when he had conducted himself with such coolness
that he had been chosen as captain's messenger in
the second ; and I suggested to the President that
it was in his power to send to the Naval School,
annually, three boys who had served at least a year
in the navy.

" He at once wrote on the back of a letter from
the commander of the Ottaiva, which I had handed
him, to the Secretary of the Navy : ■ If the ap-
pointments for this year have not been made, let
this boy be appointed.' The appointment had not.
been made, and I brought it home with me. It
directed the lad to report for examination at the
school in July. Just as he was ready to start, his
father, looking over the law, discovered that he
could not report until he was fourteen years of age,
which he would not be until September follow-
ing. The poor child sat down and wept. He

* Address in Philadelphia upon the death of Mr. Lincoln.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 295

feared that he was not to go to the Naval School.
He was, however, soon consoled by being told that
'the President could make it right.' It was mv
fortune to meet him the next morning at the door
of the Executive Chamber with his father.

" Taking by the hand the little fellow, — short
for his age, dressed in the sailor's blue pants and
shirt, — I advanced with him to the President, who
sat in his usual seat, and said : ' Mr. President,
my young friend, Willie Bladen, finds a difficulty
about his appointment. You have directed him to
appear at the school in July ; but he is not yet
fourteen years of age.' But before I got half of
this out, Mr. Lincoln, laying down his spectacles,
rose and said : ' Bless me ! is that the boy who did
so gallantly in those two great battles ? Why, I
feel that I should bow to him, and not he to me.'

" The little fellow had made his graceful bow.
The President took the papers at once, and as soon
as he learned that a postponement till September
would suffice, made the order that the lad should
report in that month. Then putting his hand on
Willie's head, he said : * Now, my boy* go home
and have good fun during the two months, for they
are about the last holiday you will get.' The little
fellow bowed himself out, feeling that the Presi-
dent of the United States, though a very great
man, was one that he would nevertheless like to
aave a game of romps with."

There was not unfrequently a curious mingling

296 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

of humor and pathos exhibited in Mr. Lincoln's
exercise of the pardoning power. Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Ford, of Ohio, had an appointment with him
one evening at six o'clock. As he entered the
vestibule of the White House his attention was
attracted by a poorly clad young woman wTho was
violently sobbing. He asked her the cause of her
distress. She said that she had been ordered away
by the servants, after vainly waiting many hours to
see the President about her only brother, who had
been condemned to death. Her story was this:
She and her brother were foreigners, and orphans.
They had been in this country several years. Her
brother enlisted in the army, but, through bad
influences, was induced to desert. He was cap-
tured, tried, and sentenced to be shot — the old
story- The poor girl had obtained the signatures
of some persons who had formerly known him to
a petition for a pardon, and, alone, had come to
Washington to lay the case before the President.
Thronged as the waiting-rooms always were, she
had passed the long hours of two days trying in
vain to get an audience, and had at length been
ordered away.

Mr. Ford's sympathies were at once enlisted.
He said that he had come to see the President, but
did not know as he should succeed. He told her,
however, to follow him up-stairs, and he would see
what could be done. Just before reaching the
door, Mr. Lincoln came out, and meeting his friend,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 297

said good-humoreclly, " are you not ahead of
time ? " Mr. Ford showed his watch, with the
pointers upon the hour of six. " Well," replied
Mr. Lincoln, " I have been so busy to-day that I
have not had time to get a lunch. Go in and sit
down ; I will be back directly."

Mr. Ford made the young woman accompany
him into the office, and when they were seated,
said to her : " Now, .my good girl, I want you to
muster all the courage you have in the world.
When the President comes back he will sit down
in that arm-chair. I shall get up to speak to him,
and as I do so you must force yourself between
us, and insist upon his examination of your papers,
telling him it is a case of life and death, and admits
of no delay." These instructions were carried out
to the letter. Mr. Lincoln was at first somewhat
surprised at the apparent forwardness of the young
woman, but observing her distressed appearance,
he ceased conversation with his friend, and com-
menced an examination of the document she had
placed in his hands. Glancing from it to the face
of the petitioner, whose tears had broken forth
afresh, he studied its expression for a moment, and
then his eye fell upon her scanty but neat dress.
Instantly his face lighted up. " My poor girl,"
said he, "you have come here with no governor,
or senator, or member of congress, to plead you"
cause. You seem honest and truthful ; and " —
with much emphasis — "you don't wear ''hoops;

298 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

and I will be whipped but I will pardon your
brother ! "

Among the applicants received on another occa-
sion by the President, was a woman who had also
met with considerable difficulty and delay in getting
admission to him. She said that her husband had
been arrested sorife months before and sent to the
" Old Capitol " prison ; that he had not been
" tried," and could not learn as he was likely to
be ; and she appealed to the President as a hus-
band and father to interfere and order an imme-
diate trial. Mr. Lincoln said he was sorry this
could not be done, — adding that such cases were
much like the different sacks of grain at a country
grist-mill, all " waiting their turn to be ground,"
and that it would be unfair for the " miller " to
show any " partiality." The woman left, but the
next day appeared again before him. Recognizing
her, Mr. Lincoln asked if anything " new " had
happened. " No," replied the woman; "but I
have been thinking, sir, about what you said con-
cerning the ' grists,' and I am afraid mine will get
'mouldy' and 'spoil' before its turn comes around,
so I have come to ask, Mr. President, that it may
be taken to some other ' mill ' to be ground."

Mr. Lincoln was so much amused at the wit
and shrewdness of the request, that he instantly
gave the woman an unconditional discharge for her
husband.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 299

LXXIV.

M Good morning, Abe ! " was the greeting ad-
dressed to the President, as we sat together in his
office one morning, — he absorbed at his desk, and
I with my pencil. I looked up in astonishment at
'the unaccustomed familiarity.

" Why, Dennis," returned Mr. Lincoln, " is this
you?" "

" Yes, Abe," was the rejoinder ; " I made up my
nind I must come down and see you once while
you were President, anyhow. So here I am, all the
way from Sangamon."

Sitting down, side by side, it would have been
difficult for one unfamiliar with democratic institu-
tions to tell, by the appearance or conversation,
which was the President and which the back-coun-
tryman, save that from time to time I overheard the
man addressed as " Dennis " refer to family trials
and hardships, and intimate that one object of his
journey so far, was to see if his old friend u could
not do something for one of his boys? "

The response to this was : " Now, Dennis, sit
down and write out what you want, so that I can
have it before me, and I will see what can be done."

I have always supposed that this was " Dennis
Hanks," the early companion and friend of Mr.
Lincoln ; but my attention at the time being di-
verted, the matter passed out of my mind, and I
neglected subsequently to inquire.

300 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

About this period — it may have been the fol-
lowing evening — the house was thrown into an
uproar by a performance of little " Tad's." I was
sitting in Mr. Nicolay's room, about ten o'clock
when Robert Lincoln came in with a flushed face.
" Well," said he, " I have just had a great row
with the President of the United States ! "

" What ? " said I.

"Yes," he replied, " and very good cause there is
for it, too. Do you know," he continued, " l Tad'
went over to the War Department to-day, and
Stanton, for the fun of the thing, — putting him a
peg above the ' little corporal ' of the French Gov-
ernment,— commissioned him l lieutenant.' On the
strength of this, what does ' Tad ' do but go off and
order a quantity of muskets sent to the house ! To-
night he had the audacity to discharge the guard,
and he then mustered all the gardeners and ser-
vants, gave them the guns, drilled them, and put
them on duty in their place. I found it out an hour
ago," continued Robert, " and thinking it a great
shame, as the men had been hard at work all day, I
went to father with it ; but instead of punishing
' Tad,' as I think he ought, he evidently looks upon
it as a good joke, and won't do anything about it ! "

" Tad," however, presently went to bed, and "then
the men were quietly discharged. And so it hap-
pened that the presidential mansion was unguarded
one night, at least, during the war !

The second week in July the whole country, and

SiX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 3l/l

Washington in particular, was thrown into a fever a*
anxiety by the rebel raid upon that city under Earlj
and Breckinridge. The night of Sunday, the 10th,
I have always believed the city might have beer
captured had the enemy followed up his advantage
The defences were weak, and there were compara-
tively but few troops in the city or vicinity. All
day Monday the excitement was at the highest
pitch. At the White House the cannonading at
Fort Stevens was distinctly heard throughout the
day. During Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, the
President visited the forts and outworks, part of the
time accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln. While at Fort
Stevens on Monday, both were imprudently ex-
posed, — rifle - balls coming, in several instances,
alarmingly near !

The almost defenceless condition of the city was
the occasion of much censure. Some blamed Gen-
eral Halleck ; others General Augur, the com-
mander of the Department ; others the Secretary
of War; and still others the President.

Subsequently the rebel force returned to Rich-
mond almost unharmed. I saw no one who ap-
peared to take this more to heart than Mrs. Lin~
coin, who was inclined to lay the responsibility at
•he door of the Secretary of War.

Two or three weeks later, when tranquillity was
perfectly restored, it was said that Stanton called
upon the President and Mrs. Lincoln one evening
at the " Soldiers' Home." In the course of conver-

302 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

sation the Secretary said, playfully, " Mrs. Lin-
coln, I intend to have a full-length portrait of you
painted, standing on the ramparts at Fort Stevens
overlooking the fight ! "

" That is very well," returned Mrs. Lincoln, very
promptly ; " and I can assure you of one thing, Mr.
Secretary, if I had had a few ladies with me the
Rebels would not have been permitted to get away
as they did ! "

LXXV.

It was not generally known before the publica-
tion of Dr. Holland's biography of Mr. Lincoln,
that he was once engaged in a "duel," although a
version of the affair had been published previous
to his biographer's account of it, which, however,
the few who saw it were disposed to regard as a
fabrication.

One evening;, at the rooms of the Hon. I. N.
Arnold, of Illinois, I met Dr. Henry, of Oregon,
an early and intimate friend of Mr. Lincoln's. Mr.
Arnold asked me in the course of conversation if
I had ever heard of the President's " duel " with
General Shields ? I replied that I might have seen
a statement of the kind, but did not suppose it to
be true. " Well," said Mr. Arnold, " we were all
young folks together at the time in Springfield.
In some way a difficulty occurred between Shields
and Lincoln, resulting in a challenge from Shields,
which was at length accepted, Mr. Lincoln nam-

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 303

ing ; broadswords ' for weapons, and the two oppo-
site banks of the Mississippi, where the river was
about a mile wide, for the ' ground.' "

Dr. Henry, who had listened quietly to this, here
broke in, " That will do for a * story,' Arnold,"
said he, " but it will hardly pass with me, for I
happened to be Lincoln's ' second ' on the occasion *
The facts are these. You will bear me witness
that there was never a more spirited circle of young
folks in one town than lived in Springfield at that
period. Shields, you remember, was a great ' beau.9
For a bit of amusement one of the young ladies
wrote some verses, taking him off sarcastically,
which were abstracted from her writing-desk by
a mischievous friend, and published in the local
newspaper. Shields, greatly irritated, posted at
once to the printing-office and demanded the name
of the author. Much frightened, the editor re
quested a day or two to consider the matter, and
upon getting rid of Shields went directly to Mr.
Lincoln with his trouble.

u 4 Tell Shields,' was the chivalric rejoinder, 4 that
I hold myself responsible for the verses.' The
next day Mr. Lincoln left for a distant section to
attend court. Shields, boiling over with wrath,
followed and ' challenged ' him. Scarcely know-
ing what he did, Mr. Lincoln accepted the chal-
lenge, seeing no alternative. The choice of weap-
ons being left to him, he named ' broadswords,'
intending to act onlv on the defensive, and think-

30-i SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

ing his long arms would enable him to keep clear
of liis antagonist.

" I was then a young surgeon," continued Dr.
Henry, " and Mr. Lincoln desired me accompany
him to the point chosen for the contest, — 4 Bloody
Island,' in the Mississippi, near St. Louis, — as his
4 second.' To this I at length consented, hoping
to prevent bloodshed. On our way to the ground
we met Colonel Hardin, a friend of both parties,
and a cousin of the lady who was the real offender.
Suspecting something wrong, Hardin subsequently
followed us, coming in upon the party just as Lin-
coln was clearing up the underbrush which covered
the ground. Entering heartily upon an attempt at
pacification, he at length succeeded in mollifying
Shields, and the whole party returned harmoniously
to Springfield, and thus the matter ended."

This version of the affair coming from an eye-
witness is undoubtedly in all respects correct. It
subsequently came in my way to know that Mr.
Lincoln himself regarded the circumstance with
much regret and mortification, and hoped it might
be forgotten. In February preceding his death a
distinguished officer of the army called at the White
House, and was entertained by the ' President and
Mrs. Lincoln for an hour in the parlor. During
the conversation the gentleman said, turning to
Mrs. Lincoln, " Is it true, Mr. President, as I have
heard, that you once went out to fight a ' duel ' for
the sake of the lady by your side ? "

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 305

"I do not deny it," replied Mr. Lincoln, with
a flushed face ; " but if you desire my friendship
you will never mention the circumstance again ! "

LXXVI.

In August following the rebel raid, Judge J. T.
Mills, of Wisconsin, in company with ex-Governor
Randall, of that State, called upon the President at
the " Soldiers' Home."

Judge Mills subsequently published the following
account of the interview, in the " Grar * County
(Wisconsin) Herald " : —

" The Governor addressed him : 4 Mr. President,
this is my friend and your friend Mills, from Wis-
consin.'

" ' I am glad to see my friends from Wisconsin ;
they are the hearty friends of the Union.'

" ' I could not leave the city, Mr. President,
without hearing words of cheer from your own lips.
Upon you, as the representative of the loyal people,
depend, as we believe, the existence of our govern-
ment and the future of America.'

" 4 Mr. President,' said Governor Randall, ' why
can't you seek seclusion, and play hermit for a fort-
night ? it would reinvigorate you.'

" ' Aye,' said the President, s two or three weeks
would do me good, but I cannot fly from my
thoughts ; my solicitude for this great country fol
20

306 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

lows me wherever I go. I don't think it is personal
vanity or ambition, though I am not free from these
infirmities, but I cannot but feel that the weal or
woe of this great nation will be decided in Novem-
ber. There is no programme offered by any wing
of the Democratic party but that must result in the
permanent destruction of the Union.'

" c But Mr. President, General McClellan is in
favor of crushing out the rebellion by force. He
will be the Chicago candidate.'

" ( Sir,' said the President, i the slightest knowl-
edge of arithmetic will prove to any man that the
rebel armies cannot be destroyed by democratic
strategy. It would sacrifice all the white men of
the North to do it. There are now in the service
of the United States near two hundred thousand
able-bodied colored men, most of them under arms,
defending and acquiring Union territory. The
democratic strategy demands that these forces should
be disbanded, and that the masters be conciliated by
restoring them to slavery. The black men who now
assist Union prisoners to escape are to be converted
into our enemies, in the vain hope of gaining the
good-will of their masters. We shall have to fight
two nations instead of one.

" ' You cannot conciliate the South if you guar-
antee to them ultimate success; and the experience
of the present war proves their success is inevitable
if you fling the compulsory labor of millions of black
men into their side of the scale. Will you give

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 307

our enemies such military advantages as insure suc-
cess, and then depend on coaxing, flattery, and con-
cession, to get them back into the Union ? Aban-
don all the posts now garrisoned by black men ;
take two hundred thousand men from our side and
put them in the battle-field or cornfield against us,
and we would be compelled to abandon the war in
three weeks.

" • We have to hold territory in inclement and
sickly places ; where are the Democrats to do this ?
It was a free fight, and the field was open to the
War Democrats to put down this rebellion by fight-
ing against both master and slave long before the
present policy was inaugurated.

u ' There have been men base enough to propose
to me to return to slavery the black warriors of
Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the respect
of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I should
deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come
what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe.
My enemies pretend I am now carrying on this war
for the sole purpose of Abolition. So long as I am
President, it shall be carried on for the sole purpose
of restoring the Union. But no human power can
gubdue this rebellion without the use of the emanci-
pation policy, and every other policy calculated to
weaken the moral and physical forces of the rebel-
lion.

" c Freedom has given us two hundred thousand
men raised on Southern soil. It will give us more

308 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

yet. Just so much it has subtracted from the en-
emy, and instead of alienating the South, there are
now evidences of a fraternal feeling growing up be-
tween our men and the rank and file of the rebel
soldiers. Let my enemies prove to the country
tli at the destruction of slavery is not necessary
to a restoration of the Union. I will abide the
issue.'

" I saw that the President was a man of deep
convictions, of abiding faith in justice, truth, and
Providence. His voice was pleasant, his manner
earnest and emphatic. As he warmed with his
theme, his mind grew to the magnitude of his body.
I felt I was in the presence of the great guiding in-
tellect of the age, and that those ' huge Atlantean
shoulders were fit to bear the weight of mightiest
monarchies.' His transparent honesty, republican
simplicity, his gushing sympathy for those who of-
fered their lives for their country, his utter forget-
ful ness of self in his concern for its welfare, could
not but inspire me with confidence that, he was
Heaven's instrument to conduct his people through
this sea of blood to a Canaan of peace and freedom."

lxxvil

No reminiscence of the late President has been
given to the public more thoroughly valuable and
characteristic than a sketch which appeared in the
New York " Independent " of September 1st, 1864,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 30£

from the pen of the Rev. J. P. Gulliver, of Nor-
wich, Connecticut : —

" It was just after his controversy with Douglas,
and some months before the meeting of the Chicago
Convention of 1860, that Mr. Lincoln came to
Norwich to make a political speech. It was in
substance the famous speech delivered in New
York, commencing with the noble words : l There
is but one political question before the people of
this country, which is this, Is slavery right, or is it
wrong ? ' and ending with the yet nobler words :
4 Gentlemen, it has been said of the world's history
hitherto that " might makes right : " it is for us and
for our times to reverse the maxim, and to show
that right makes might ! '

" The next morning I met him at the railroad
station, where he was conversing with our Mayor,
every few minutes looking up the track and inquir-
ing, half impatiently and half quizzically, l Where 's
that 4 wagon ' of yours ? Why don't the 4 wagon '
come along ? ' On being introduced to him, he
fixed his eyes upon me, and said : 4 I have seen you
before, sir ! ' i I think not,' I replied ; 4 you must
mistake me for some other person.' w No, I don't ;
I saw you at the Town Hall, last evening.' ' Is it
possible, Mr. Lincoln, that you could observe indi-
viduals so closely in such a crowd ? ' ■ Oh, yes ! '
he replied, laughing ; ■ that is my way. I don't
forget faces. Were you not there ? ' c I was, sir,
and I was well paid for going ; ' adding, somewhat

310 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

in the vein of pleasantry he had started, 4 1 con-
sider it one of the most extraordinary speeches I
ever heard.'

" As we entered the cars, he beckoned me to
take a seat with him, and said, in a most agreeably
frank way, i Were you sincere in what you said
about my speech just now ? ' l I meant every
word of it, Mr. Lincoln. Why, an old dyed-in-
the-wool Democrat, who sat near me, applauded
you repeatedly ; and, when rallied upon his con-
version to sound principles, answered, u I don't be-
lieve a word he says, but I can't help clapping
him, he is so pat!" That I call the triumph of
oratory? —

" When you convince a man against his will,
Though he is of the same opinion still."

Indeed, sir, I learned more of the art of public
speaking last evening than I could from a whole
course of lectures on Rhetoric'

" 4 Ah ! that reminds me,' said he, 4 of a most
extraordinary circumstance which occurred in New
Haven the other day. They told me that the Pro-
fessor of Rhetoric in Yale College, — a very learned
man, is n't he ? '

" ' Yes, sir, and a fine critic too.'

" ■ Well, I suppose so ; he ought to be, at any
rate, — they told me that he came to hear me, and
took notes of my speech, and gave a lecture on it
to his class the next day ; and, not satisfied with
that, he followed me up to Meriden the next even*

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 311

ing, and heard me again for the same purpose.
Now, if this is so, it is to my mind very extraordi-
nary. I have been sufficiently astonished at my
success in the West. It has been most unexpected.
But I had no thought of any marked success at
the East, and least of all that I should draw out
sucn commendations from literary and learned men.
Now,' he continued, 4 1 should like very much to
know what it was in my speech you thought so
remarkable, and what you suppose interested my
friend, the Professor, so much.'

" 4 The clearness of your statements, Mr. Lin-
coln ; the unanswerable style of your reasoning,
and especially your illustrations, which were ro-
mance and pathos, and fun and logic all welded
together. That story about the snakes, for ex-
ample, which set the hands and feet of your Dem-
ocratic hearers in such vigorous motion, was at once
queer and comical, and tragic and argumentative.
It broke through all the barriers of a man's previ-
ous opinions and prejudices at a crash, and blew up
the very citadel of his false theories before he could
know what had hurt him.'

" ' Can you remember any other illustrations,'
said lie, l of this peculiarity of my style ? '

" I gave him others of the same sort, occupying
tome half-hour in the critique, when he said : ' I
am much obliged to you for this. I have been
wishing for a long time to find some one who would
make this analysis for me. It throws light on a

•512 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

subject which has been dark to me. I can under-
stand very readily how such a power as you have
ascribed to me will account for the effect which
seems to be produced by my speeches. 1 hope you
have not been too flattering in your estimate. Cer-
tainly, I have had a most wonderful success, for a
man of my limited education.'

" ' That suggests, Mr. Lincoln, an inquiry which
has several times been upon my lips during this
conversation. I want very much to know how
you got this unusual power of "putting things."
It must have been a matter of education. No man
has it by nature alone. What has your education
been ? '

" ' Well, as to education, the newspapers are cor-
rect ; I never went to school more than six months
in my life. But, as you say, this must be a product
of culture in some form. I have been putting the
question you ask me to myself, while you have
been talking. I can say this, that among my ear-
liest recollections I remember how, when a mere
child, I used to get irritated when any body talked
to me in a way I could not understand. I don't
think I ever got angry at anything else in my life.
But that always disturbed my temper, and has ever
since. I can remember going to my little bed-
room, after hearing the neighbors talk of an even-
ing with my father, and spending no small part of
the night walking up and down, and trying to
make out what was the exact meaning of some of

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 313

their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep,
though I often tried to, when I got on such a hunt
after an idea, until I had caught it ; and when I
thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I
had repeated it over and over, until I had put it in
language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy
I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of pas-
sion with me, and it has stuck by me ; for I am
never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till
I have bounded it North, and bounded it South, and
bounded it East, and bounded it West. Perhaps
that accounts for the characteristic you observe in
my speeches, though I never put the two things
together before.'

" 4 Mr. Lincoln, I thank you for this. It is the
most splendid educational fact I ever happened
upon. This is genius, with all its impulsive, in-
spiring, dominating power over the mind of its
possessor, developed by education into talent, with
its uniformity, its permanence, and its disciplined
strength, — always ready, always available, never
capricious, — the highest possession of the human
intellect. But, let me ask, did you prepare fcr
your profession ? '

"'Oh, yes! I "read law," as the phrase is
that is, I became a lawyer's clerk in Springfield,
and copied tedious documents, and picked up what
I could of law in the intervals of other work. But
your question reminds me of a bit of education I
had, which I am bound in honestv to mention. In

314 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

the course of my law-reading, I constantly came
upon the word demonstrate. I thought at first that
I understood its meaning, but soon became satisfied
that I did not. I said to myself, " What do I mean
when I demonstrate more than when I reason or
prove? How does demonstration differ from any
other proof? " I consulted Webster's Dictionary.
That told of " certain proof," " proof beyond the
possibility of doubt ; " but I could form no idea
what sort of proof that was. I thought a great
many things were proved beyond a possibility of
doubt, without recourse to any such extraordinary
process of reasoning as I understood " demonstra-
tion " to be. I consulted all the dictionaries and
books of reference I could find, but with no better
results. You might as well have defined blue to a
blind man. At last I said, " Lincoln, you can
never make a lawyer if you do not understand what
demonstrate means ; " and I left my situation in
Springfield, went home to my father's house, and
stayed there till I could give any proposition in the
six books of Euclid at sight. I then found out
what " demonstrate " means, and went back to my
law-studies.'

" I could not refrain from saying, in my admira-
tion at such a development of character and gerius
combined : ( Mr. Lincoln, your success is no longer
a marvel. It is the legitimate result of adequate
causes. You deserve it all, and a great deal more.
If you will permit me, I would like to use this fact

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 315

publicly. It will be most valuable in inciting our
young men to that patient classical and mathemat-
ical culture which most minds absolutely require.
No man can talk well unless he is able first of all
to define to himself what he is talking about. Eu-
clid, well studied, would free the world of half its
calamities, by banishing half the nonsense which
now deludes and curses it. I have often thought
that Euclid would be one of the best books to put
on the catalogue of the Tract Society, if they could
only get people to read it. It would be a means of
grace.'

" ' I think so,' said he, laughing ; * I vote for
Euclid.'

" Just then a gentleman entered the car who was
well known as a very ardent friend of Douglas.
Being a little curious to see how Mr. Lincoln would
meet him, I introduced him after this fashion : —

' Mr. Lincoln, allow me to introduce Mr. L ,

a very particular friend of your particular friend,
Mr. Douglas.' He at once took his hand in a most
cordial manner, saying : ' I have no doubt you
think you are right, sir.' This hearty tribute to
the honesty of a political opponent, with the man-
ner of doing it, struck me as a beautiful exhibition
of a large-hearted charity, of which we see far too
little in this debating, fermenting world..

" As we neared the end of our journey, Mr. Lin«
coin turned to me very pleasantly, and said : ' I
want to thank you for this conversation. I have

315 SIX MOUTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

enjoyed it very much.' I replied, referring to some
stalwart denunciations he had just been utterino- of
the demoralizing influences of Washington upon
Northern politicians in respect to the slavery ques-
tion, l Mr. Lincoln, may I say one thing to you
before we separate ? '

" ' Certainly, anything you please.'

" ' You have just spoken of the tendency of po-
litical life in Washington to debase the moral con-
victions of our representatives there by the admixt-
ure of considerations of mere political expediency.
You have become, by the controversy with Mr.
Douglas, one of our leaders in this great struo-o-le
with slavery, which is undoubtedly the struggle of
the nation and the age. What I would like to say
is this, and I say it with a full heart, Be true to your
princijrfes and we ivill be true to you, and God will
be true to us all!' His homely face lighted up
instantly with a beaming expression, and taking my
hand warmly in both of his, he said : ' I say Amen
to that — Amen to that ! '

" There is a deep excavation in the rock shown
to visitors, among the White Mountains, into which
one of the purest of the mountain streams pours
itself, known as ' The Pool.' As you stand by its
side at an ordinary time you look down upon a
mass of impenetrable green, lying like a rich em-
erald in a setting of granite upon the bosom of the
mountain. But occasionally the noon-day sun darts
through it a vertical ray which penetrates to its

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 817

very bottom, and shows every configuration of the
varied interior. I felt at that moment that a ray
had darted down to the bottom cf Abraham Lin-
coln's heart, and that I could see the whole. It
seemed to me as beautiful as that emerald pool, and
as pure. I have never forgotten that glimpse
When the strange revocation came of the mosi
rational and reasonable proclamation of Fremont, —
c The slaves of Rebels shall be set free,' — I remem-
bered that hearty ' Amen, and stifled my rising
apprehensions. I remembered it in those dark
days when McClellan, Nero-like, was fiddling on
James River, and Pope was being routed before
Washington, and the report came that a prominent
Cabinet Minister had boasted that he had succeeded
in preventing the issue .of the Emancipation Proc-
lamation ; I said : ' Abraham Lincoln will prove
true yet.' And he has! God bless him! he has.
Slow, if you please, but true. Unimpassioned, if
you please, but true. Jocose, trifling, if you please,
but true. Reluctant to part, with unworthy official
advisers, but true himself — true as steel! I could
wish him less a man of facts, and more a man of
ideas. I could wish him more stern and more viff-
orous : but every man has his faults, and still I
say : Amen to Abraham Lincoln ! " *

* This article was written and first published some months previous
\o Mr. Lincoln's reelection, daring the depression of the public mind
following the " raid " on Washington.

818 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

lxxvhi.

The Hon. Orlando Kellogg, of New York, was
sitting in his room at his boarding-house one even-
ing, when one of his constituents appeared, — a
white-headed old man, — who had come to Wash-
ington in great trouble, to seek the aid of his repre-
sentative in behalf of his son. His story was this :
" The young man had formerly been very dissi-
pated. During an absence from home a year or
two previous to the war, he enlisted in the regular
army, and, after serving six months, deserted. Re
turning to his father, who knew nothing of this,
he reformed his habits, and when the war broke
out, entered heart and soul into the object of rais-
ing a regiment in his native county, and was sub-
sequently elected one of its officers. He had proved
an efficient officer, distinguishing himself particu-
larly on one occasion, in a charge across a bridge,
when he was severely wounded, — his colonel
being killed by his side. Shortly after this, he
came in contact with one of his old companions in
the ' regular ' service, who recognized him, and
declared his purpose of informing against him.
Overwhelmed with mortification, the young man
procured a furlough and returned home, revealing
the matter to his father, and declaring his purpose
never to submit to an arrest, — l he would die
first.' " In broken tones the old man finished his
statement, saying : " Can you do anything for us,

SIX MONTHS AT THE WlilTE HOUSE. 319

Judge ? — it is a hard, hard case ! " "I will see
about that," replied the representative, putting on
his hat ; " wait here until I return." He went
immediately to the White House, and fortunately
finding Mr. Lincoln alone, they sat down together.,
and he repeated the old man's story. The Pi esi •
dent made no demonstration of particular inteiest
until the Judge reached the description of the
charge across the bridge, and the wound received.
" Do you say," he interrupted, " that the young
man was wounded ? " " Yes," replied the con-
gressman, " badly." "Then he has shed his blood
for his country," responded Mr. Lincoln, musingly.
"Kellogg," he continued, brightening up, "isn't
there something in Scripture about the 4 shedding
of blood ' being ' the remission of sins ? ' " " Guess
you are about right there," replied the Judge. " It
is a good ' point,' and there is no going behind
it," rejoined the President ; and taking up his pen,
another " pardon " — this time without " oath,"
condition, or reserve — was added to the records
of the War Office.

"Among a large nurdber of persons waiting in
the room to speak with Mr. Lincoln, on a certain
day in November, '64, was a small, pale, delicate-
looking boy about thirteen years old. The Presi-
dent saw him standing, looking feeble and faint,
and said : i Come here, my boy, and tell me what
you want.' The boy advanced, placed his hand on
the arm of the President's chair, and with bowed

320 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHIT]' HOUSE.

head and timid accents said : " Mr. President, I
have been a drummer in a regiment for two years,
and my colonel got angry with me and turned me
off. I was taken sick, and have been a loner time
in hospital. This is the first time I have been out,
and I came to see if you could not do something
for me.' The President looked at him kindly and
tenderly, and asked him where he lived. ' I have
no home,' answered the boy. ' Where is your
father?' " He died in the army,' wras the reply.
'Where is your mother?' continued the President.
' My mother is dead also. I have no mother, no
father, no brothers, no sisters, and,' bursting into
tears, 'no friends — nobody cares for me.' Mr.
Lincoln's eyes filled with tears, and he said to him,
1 Can't you sell newspapers ? ' ¥ No,' said the boy,
1 I am too weak ; and the surgeon of the hospital
told me I must leave, and I have no money, and no
place to go to.' The scene was wonderfully affect-
ing. The President drew forth a card, and ad-
dressing on it certain officials to whom his request
was law, gave special directions ' to care for this
poor boy.' The wan face of the little drummer lit
up with a happy smile as he received the paper,
and he went away convinced that he had one good
and true friend, at least, in the person of the
President." *

No incident of this character related of the late
President, is more profoundly touching in its ten-

* Rev. Mr. Henderson, Louisville, Ky.

SIX MONTHS AT. THE WHITE HOUSE. 321

derness and simplicity than that given to me the
last evening I passed at the White House, in the
oflice of the private secretary, by a resident of
Washington,* who witnessed the scene.

" I was waiting my turn to speak to the Presi-
dent one day, some three or four weeks since,"
said Mr. M- , "when my attention was at-
tracted by the sad patient face of a woman ad-
vanced in life, who in a faded hood and shawl
was among the applicants for an interview.

" Presently Mr. Lincoln turned to her, saying in
his accustomed manner, ' Well, my good woman,
what can I do for you this morning ? ' 4 Mr.
President,' said she, ' my husband and three sons
all went into the army. My husband was killed in

the fight at . I get along very badly since

then, living all alone, and I thought I would
come and ask you to release to me my oldest son.'
Mr. Lincoln looked into her face a moment, and
in his kindest accents responded, 4 Certainly ! cer-
tainly ! If you have given us all, and your
prop has been taken away, you are justly en-
titled to one of your boys ! ' He immediately
made out an order discharging the young man,
which the woman took, and thanking him grate-
fully, went away.

" I had forgotten the circumstance," continued

M , " till last week, when happening 'to be

here again, who should come in but the same

* Mr. Murtagh. of the W jshington Repvblican
21

322 SIX MONTHS AT the white house.

woman. It appeared that she had gone herself to
the front, with the President's order, and found the
son she was in search of had been mortally wounded
in a recent engagement, and taken to a hospital.
She found the hospital, but the boy was dead, or
died while she was there. The surgeon in charge
made a memorandum of the facts upon the back of
the President's order, and almost broken-hearted,
the poor woman had found her way again into Mr;
Lincoln's presence. He was much affected by her
appearance and story, and said : ' I know what you
wish me to do now, and I shall do it without your
asking ; I shall release to you your second son.'
Upon this, he took up his pen and commenced
writing the order. While he was writing the poor
woman stood by his side, the tears running down
her face, and passed her hand softly over his head,
stroking his rough hair, as I have seen a fond mother
caress a son. By the time he had finished writing,
his own heart and eyes were full. He handed her
the paper : ' Now,' said he, ' you have one and Zone
of the other two left : that is no more than right.*
She took the paper, and reverently placing her hand
again upon his head, the tears still upon her cheeks,
said : 4 The Lord bless you, Mr. Lincoln. May you
live a thousand years, and may you always he the
head of this great nation ! '"

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 323

LXXIX.

The Hon. W. H. Herndon, of Springfield, Illi-
nois, for more than twenty years the law-partner of
Mr. Lincoln, delivered an address in that city, De-
cember 12th, 1865, upon the life and character of
the lamented President, which, for masterly analy-
sis, has scarcely an equal in the annals of biograph-
ical literature. Quaint and original in style and
construction, this description — an imperfect ab-
stract of which I subjoin — is in singular harmony
writh the character it depicts. To those who knew
Mr. Lincoln personally, so thorough a dissection of
his nature and traits will need no indorsement ;
while to the multitude who knew him not, it may
be commended as probably more complete and ex-
haustive in its treatment of the subject, than any-
thin <r which has been o-iven to the world.

M Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County,
Kentucky, February 12th, 1809. He moved to
Indiana in 1816 ; came to Illinois in March, 1830;
to old Sangamon County in 1831, settling in New
Salem, and from this last place to this city in April,
1837 : coming as a rude, uncultivated boy, without
polish or education, and having no friends. He
was about six feet four inches high, and when he
left this city was fifty-one years old, having good
health and no gray hairs, or but few on his head.
He was thin, wiry, sinewy, raw-boned ; thin through
the breast to the back, and narrow across the shoul-

o24 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

ders; standing, he leaned forward — was what may
be called stoop-shouldered, inclining to the consump-
tive by build. His usual weight was one hundred
and sixty pounds. His organization — rather his
structure and functions — worked slowly. His blood
had to run a long distance from his heart to the ex-
tremities of his frame, and his nerve-force had to
travel through dry ground a long distance before his
muscles were obedient to his will. His structure
was loose and. leathery ; his body was shrunk and
shrivelled, having dark skin, dark hair, — looking
woe-struck. The whole man, body and mind,
worked slowly, creakingly, as if it needed oiling.
Physically, he was a very powerful man, lifting
with ease four hundred or six hundred pounds. His
mind was like his body, and worked slowly but
strongly. When he walked, he moved cautiously
but firmly, his long arms and hands on them, hang-
ing like giant's hands, swung down by his side. He
walked with even tread, the inner sides of his feet
being parallel. He put the whole foot flat down on
the ground at once, not landing on the heel ; he like-
wise lifted his foot all at once, not rising from the
toe, and hence he had no spring to his walk. He
had economy of fall and lift of foot, though he had
no spring or apparent ease of motion in his tread.
He walked undulatory, up and down, catching and
pocketing tire, weariness, and pain, all up and down
his person, preventing them from locating. The
first opinion of a stranger, or a man who did not

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 32c

observe closely, was that his walk implied shrewd-
ness, cunning, — a tricky man ; but his was the
walk of caution and firmness. In sitting down on
a common chair he was no taller than ordinary men.
His legs and arms were, abnormally, unnaturally
long, and in undue proportion to the balance of his
body. It was only when he stood up that he loomed
above other men.

■' Mr. Lincoln's head was Ions and tall from the
base of the brain and from the eyebrows. His
head ran backwards, his forehead rising as it ran
back at a low angle, like Clay's, and, unlike Web-
ster's, almost perpendicular. The size of his hat,
measured at the hatter's block, was 7|, his head
being, from ear to ear, 6^ inches, and from the front
to the back of the brain 8 inches. Thus measured,
it was not below the medium size. His forehead
was narrow but high ; his hair was dark, almost
black, and lay floating where his fingers or the
winds left it, piled up at random. His cheek-bones
were high, sharp, and prominent ; his eyebrows
heavy and prominent ; his jaws were long, up-
curved, and heavy ; his nose was large, long, and
blunt, a little awry towards the right eye ; his
chin was long, sharp, and upcurved ; his eyebrows
cropped out like a huge rock on the brow of a hill ;
his face was long, sallow, and cadaverous, shrunk,
shrivelled, wrinkled, and dry, having here and there
a hair on the surface ; his cheeks were leathery ;
his ears were large, and ran out almost at right an«

326 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

gles from his head, caused partly by heavy hats and
partly by nature ; his lower lip was thick, hanging,
and undercurved, while his chin reached for the lip
upcurved : his neck was neat and trim, his head
being well balanced on it ; there was the lone mole
on the right cheek, and Adam's apple on his throat.

" Thus stood, walked, acted, and looked Abraham
Lincoln. He was not a pretty man by any means,
nor was he an ugly one ; he was a homely man,
careless of his looks, plain-looking and plain-acting.
He had no pomp, display, or dignity, so-called. He
appeared simple in his carriage and bearing. He
was a sad-looking man ; his melancholy dripped
from him as he walked. His apparent gloom im-
pressed his friends, and created a sympathy for him,
— one means of his great success. He was gloomy,
abstracted, and joyous, — rather humorous, — bv
turns. I do not thmk he knew what real joy was
for many years.

" Mr. Lincoln sometimes walked our streets
cheerily, — good - humoredly, perhaps joyously, —
and then it was, on meeting a friend, he cried ' How
d' y ? ' clasping one of his friend's hands in both of
his, giving a good hearty soul- welcome. Of a win-
ter's morning, he might be seen stalking and stilt-
ing it towards the market-house, basket on arm, his
old gray shawl wrapped around his neck, his little
Willie or Tad running along at his heels, asking a
thousand little quick questions, which his father
heard not, not even then knowing that little Willie

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 327

or Tad was tliere, so abstracted was he. When he
thus met a friend, he said that something put him
in mind of a story which he heard in Indiana or
elsewhere, and tell it he would, and there was no
alternative but to listen.

" Thus, I say, stood and walked and looked this
singular man. He was odd, but when that gray
eye and face and every feature were lit up by the
inward soul in fires of emotion, then it was that all
these apparently ugly features sprang into organs
of beauty, or sunk themselves into a sea of inspira-
tion that sometimes flooded his face. Sometimes it
appeared to me that Lincoln's soul was just fresh
from the presence of its Creator.

" I have asked the friends and foes of Mr. Lin-
coln alike, what they thought of his perceptions.
One gentleman of undoubted ability and free from
all partiality or prejudice, said, 6 Mr. Lincoln's per-
ceptions are slow, a little perverted, if not some-
what distorted and diseased.' If the meaning of
this is that Mr. Lincoln saw things from a peculiar
angle of his being, and from this was susceptible to
Nature's impulses, and that he so expressed him-
self, then I have no objection to what is said. Other-
wise, I dissent. Mr. Lincoln's perceptions were
slow, cold, precise, and exact. Everything came to
him in its precise shape and color. To some men
the world of matter and of man comes ornamented
with beauty, life, and action, and hence more or less

328 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

false and inexact. No lurking illusion or other
error, false in itself, and clad for the moment in
robes of splendor, ever passed undetected or un-
challenged over the threshold of his mind, — that
point that divides vision from the realm and home
of thought. Names to him were nothing, and titles
naught, — assumption always standing back abashed
at his cold, intellectual glare. Neither his percep-
tions nor intellectual vision were perverted, distorted,
or diseased. He saw all things through a perfect
mental lens. There was no diffraction or refraction
there. He was not impulsive, fanciful, or imagina-
tive, but cold, calm, precise, and exact. He threw
his whole mental light around the object, and in
time, substance, and quality stood apart ; form and
color took their appropriate places, and all was clear
and exact in his mind. His fault, if any, was that
he saw things less than they really were : less beau-
tiful and more frigid. In his mental view he crushed
the unreal, the inexact, the hollow, and the sham.
He saw things in rigidity rather than in vital action.
Here was his fault. He saw what no man could
dispute ; but he failed to see what might have been
seen. To some minds the world is all life, a soul
beneath the material ; but to Mr. Lincoln no life
was individual or universal that did not manifest it-
self to him. His mind was his standard. His per-
ceptions were cool, persistent, pitiless in pursuit of
the truth. No error went undetected, and no false-
hood unexposed, if he once was aroused in search

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 820

of truth. If his perceptions were perverted, dis-
torted, and diseased, would to Heaven that more
minds were so.

" The true peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln has not been
seen by his various biographers ; or, if seen, they
have failed wofully to. give it that prominence which
it deserves. It is said that Newton saw an apple
fall to the ground from a tree, and beheld the law
of the universe in that fall ; Shakspeare saw human
nature in the laugh of a man ; Professor Owen saw
the animal in its claw ; and Spencer saw the evolu-
tion of the universe in the growth of a seed. Na-
ture was suggestive to all these men. Mr. Lincoln
no less saw philosophy in a story, and a schoolmas-
ter in a joke. No man, no men, saw nature, fact,
thing, or man from his stand-point. His was a new
and original position, which was always suggesting,
hinting something to him. Nature, insinuations,
hints, and suggestions were new, fresh, original, and
odd to him. The world, fact, man, principle, all
had their powers of suggestion to his susceptible
soul. They continually put him in mind of some-
thing. He was odd, fresh, new, original, and pe-
culiar for this reason, that he was a new, odd, and
original creation and fact. He had keen suscepti-
bilities to the hints and suggestions of nature, which
always put him in mind of something known or
mknown. Hence his power and tenacity ot what
h called association of ideas must have been great.

330 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

His memory was tenacious and strong. His sus-
ceptibility to all suggestions and hints enabled him
at will to call up readily the associated and classified
fact and idea.

"As an evidence of this, especially peculiar to Mr.
Lincoln, let me ask one question. Were Mr. Lin-
coln's expression and language odd and original,
standing out peculiar from those of all other men ?
What does this imply ? Oddity and originality of
vision as well as expression ; and what is expression
in words and human language, but a telling of what
we see, defining the idea arising from and created
by vision and view in us. Words and language
are but the counterparts of the idea, — the other
half of the idea ; they are but the stinging, hot,
heavy, leaden bullets that drop from the mould ;
and what are they in a rifle with powder stuffed
behind them and fire applied, but an embodied force
pursuing their object. So are wrords an embodied
power feeling for comprehension in other minds.
Mr. Lincoln was often perplexed to give expression
to his ideas : first, because he was hot master of
the English language ; and, secondly, because there
were no words in it containing the coloring, shape,
exactness, power, and gravity of his ideas. He
■was frequently at a loss for a word, and hence was
compelled to resort to stories, maxims, and jokes to
embody his idea, that it might be comprehended.
So true was this peculiar mental vision of his, that
though mankind has been gathering, arranging, and

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 331

classifying facts for thousands of years, Lincoln's
peculiar stand-point could give him no advantage
of other men's labor. Hence he tore up to the
deep foundations all arrangements of facts, and
coined and arranged new plans to govern himself.
He was compelled, from his peculiar mental organi-
zation, to do this. His labor was great, continuous,
patient, and all-enduring.

" The truth about this whole matter is that Mr.
Lincoln read less and thought more than any man
in his sphere in America. No man can put his
finger on any great book written in the last or pres-
ent century that he read. When young he read
the Bible, and when of age he read Shakspeare.
This latter book was scarcely ever out of his mind.
Mr. Lincoln is acknowledged to have been a great
man, but the question is what made him great. I
repeat, that he read less and thought more than any
man of his standing in America, if not in the world.
He possessed originality and power of thought in
an eminent degree. He was cautious, cool, con-
centrated, with continuity of reflection ; was patient
and enduring. "These are some of the grounds of
his wonderful success.

" Not only was nature, man, fact, and principle
suggestive to Mr. Lincoln, not only had he accurate
and exact perceptions, but he was causative, i. e.,
his mind ran back behind all facts, things, and prin-
ciples t& their origin, history, and first cause, — to
that point where forces act at once as effect and

332 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

cause. He would stop and stand in the street and
analyze a machine. He would whittle things to
a point, and then count the numberless inclined
planes, and their pitch, making the point. Mas-
tering and defining this, he would then cut that
point back, and get a broad transverse section of
his pine stick, and peel and define that. Clocks,
omnibuses, and language, paddle-wheels, and idioms,
never escaped his observation and analysis.* Before
he could form any idea of anything, before he would
express his opinion on any subject, he must know
it in origin and history, in substance and quality, in
magnitude and gravity. He must know his subject
inside and outside, upside and downside. He
searched his own mind and nature thoroughly, as I
have often heard him say. He must analyze a sen-
sation, an idea, and words, and run them back to
their origin, history, purpose, and destiny. He was
most emphatically a remorseless analyzer of facts,
things, and principles. When all these processes
had been well and thoroughly gone through, he
could form an opinion and express it, but no sooner.
He had no faith. 4 Say so's ' he had no respect for,
coming though they might from tradition, power, or
authority.

" All things, facts, and principles had to run
through his crucible and be tested by the fires of his
analytic mind ; and hence, when he did speak his
utterances rang out gold-like, quick, keen,*and cur-
rent upon the counters of the understanding. H6

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 333

reasoned logically, through analogy and comparison.
All opponents dreaded him in his originality of idea,
condensation, definition, and force of expression, and
woe be to the man who hugged to his bosom "a

oo

secret error if Mr. Lincoln got on the chase of it.
T say, woe to him ! Time could hide the error in
no nook or corner of space in which he would not
detect and expose it.

" Though Mr. Lincoln had accurate perceptions,
though nature was extremely su£o;estive to him,
though he was a profound thinker as well as ana-
lyzer, still his judgments and opinions formed upon
minor matters were often childish. I have some-
times asked prominent, talented, and honest men
in this and other States for their manly opinion of
Mr. Lincoln's judgments. I did this to confirm or
overthrow my own opinions on this point. Their
answers were that his judgments were poor. But
now what do we understand by the word 'judg-
ments ? ' It is not reason, it is not will, nor is it
understanding ; but it is the judging faculty, — that
capacity or power that forms opinions and decides
on the fitness, beauty, harmony, and appropriateness
of things under all circumstances and surroundings,

o o -

quickly, wisely, accurately. Had Mr. Lincoln this
quality of mind ? I think not. His mind was like
nis body, and worked slowly.

" One portion of mankind maintained that Mr.

334 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Lincoln was weak-minded, and they look at him
only from the standpoint of his judgments. An-
other class maintain that he was a great, deep, pro-
found man in his judgments. Do these two classes
understand themselves? Both views cannot be
correct. Mr. Lincoln's mind was slow, angular, and
ponderous, rather than quick and finely discriminat-
ing, and in tithe his great powers of reason on cause
and effect, on creation and relation, on substance
and on truth, would form a proposition, an opinion
wisely and well, — that no human being can denv.
When his mind could not grasp premises from
which to argue he was weaker than a child, be-
cause he had none of the child's intuitions, — the
soul's quick, bright flash over scattered and unar-
ranged facts.

" Mr. Lincoln was a peculiar man, having a pe-
culiar mind ; he was gifted with a peculiarity,
namely, a new lookout on nature. Everything had
to be newly created for him, — facts newly gath-
ered, newly arranged, and newly classed. He had
no faith, as already expressed. In order to believe
he must see and feel, and thrust his hand into the
place. He must taste, smell, and handle before he
had faith, i. <?., belief. Such a mind as this must
act slowly, — must have its time. His forte and
power lay in his love of digging out for himself and
hunting up for his own mind its own food, to be
assimilated unto itself; and then in time he could
and would form opinions and conclusions that no

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 385

human power could overthrow. They were as
irresistible as iron thunder, as powerful as logic
embodied in mathematics.

" I have watched men closely in reference to
their approaches to Mr. Lincoln. Those who ap-
proached him on his judgment side treated him ten*
derly — sometimes respectfully, but always as a
weak-minded man. This class of men take the
judgment as the standard of the mind. I have
seen another class approach him on his reason-side,
and they always crouched low down and truckled,
as much as to say, 'great,' 'grand,' ' omnipotent.'
Both these classes were correct. One took judgment
as the standard of the man, and the other took rea-
son. Yet both classes were wrong in this, — they
sunk out of view one side of Mr. Lincoln. A third
class knew him well, and always treated him with
human respect : not that awe and reverence with
which we regard the Supreme Being ; not that
supercilious haughtiness which greatness shows to
littleness. Each will please to examine itself, and
then judge of what I say. I have approached Mr,
Lincoln on all sides, and treated him according to
the angle approached.

tl An additional question naturally suggests itself
here, and it is this : Had Mr. Lincoln great, good
common sense ? Different persons, of equal capac-
ity and honesty, hold different views on this ques-
tion,— one class answering in the affirmative, and
the other in the negative.

336* SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

These various opinions necessarily spring out of
the question just discussed. If the true test is that
a man shall quickly, wisely, and well judge the rapid
rush and whirl of human transactions, as accurately
as though indefinite time and proper conditions were
at his disposal, then I am compelled to follow the
logic of things, and say that Mr. Lincoln had no
more than ordinary common sense. The world,
men and their actions, must be judged as they rush
and pass along. They will not wait on us ; will not
stay for our logic and analysis ; they must be seized
as they run. We all our life act on the moment.
Mr. Lincoln knew himself, and never trusted his
dollar or his fame on his casual opinions ; he never
acted hastily on great matters.

" Mr. Lincoln very well knew that the great lead-
ins law of human nature wras motive. He reasoned
all ideas of a disinterested action from my mind. I
used to hold that an action could be pure, disinter-
ested, and holy, free from all selfishness, but he di-
vested me of that delusion. His idea was that all
human actions were caused by motives, and that at
the bottom of those motives was self. He defied me
to act without a motive and unselfishly ; and when
I did the act and told him of it, he analyzed and
sifted it, and demonstrated beyond the possibility of
controversy that it was altogether selfish. Though
he was a profound analyzer of the laws of human
nature, still he had no idea of the peculiar motives

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE

of the particular individual. He could not well
discriminate in human nature. He knew but little
of the play of the features as seen in 4 the human
face divine.' He could not distinguish between the
paleness of anger and the crimson tint of modesty.
He could not determine what each play of the feat-
ures indicated.

" The great predominating elements of .Mr. Lin-
coln's peculiar character, were : First, his great ca-
pacity and power of reason ; secondly, his excellent
understanding ; thirdly, an exalted idea of the sense
of right and equity ; and, fourthly, his intense ven-
eration of what was true and good. His reason
ruled despotically all other faculties and qualities of
his mind. His conscience and heart were ruled
,by it. His conscience was ruled by one faculty —
reason. His heart was ruled by two faculties —
reason and conscience. I know it is generally
believed that Mr. Lincoln's heart, his love and
kindness, his tenderness and benevolence, were his
ruling qualities ; but this opinion is erroneous in
every particular. First, as to his reason. He dwelt
in the mind, not in the conscience, and not in the
heart. He lived and breathed and acted from
his reason, — the throne of logic and the home of
principle, the realm of Deity in man. It is from
this point that Mr. Lincoln must be viewed. His
views were correct and original. He was cautious
not to be deceived ; he was patient and endur-
22

838 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

mg. He had concentration and great continuity of
thought ; he had a profound analytic power ; his
visions were clear, and he was emphatically the mas-
ter of statement. His pursuit of the truth was in-
defatigable, terrible. He reasoned from his well-
chosen principles with such clearness, force, and
compactness, that the tallest intellects in the laud
bowed to him with respect. He was the strongest
man I ever saw, looking at him from the stand-point
of his reason, — the throne of his logic. He came
down from that height with an irresistible and crush-
ing force. His printed speeches will prove this ; but
his speeches before courts, especially before the Su-
preme Courts of the State and Nation, would de-
monstrate it : unfortunately none of them have been
preserved. Here he demanded time to think and
prepare. The office of reason is to determine the^
truth. Truth is the power of reason — the child
of reason. He loved and idolized truth for its own
sake. It was reason's food.

" Conscience, the second great quality and forte
of Mr. Lincoln's character, is that faculty which
loves the just : its office is justice ; right and equity
are its correlatives. It decides upon all acts of all
people at all times. Mr. Lincoln had a deep, broad,
living conscience. His great reason told him what
was true, good, and bad, right, wrong, just or un-
just, and his conscience echoed back its decision ;
and it was from this point that he acted and spoke
and wove his character and fame among us. His

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 3^9

conscience ruled his heart ; he was always just be-
fore he was gracious. This was his motto, his glory :
and this is as it should be. It cannot be truthfully
said of any mortal man that he was always just.
Mr. Lincoln was not always just ; but his great gen-
eral life was. It follows that if Mr. Lincoln had
great reason and great conscience, he was an hon-
est man. His great and general life was honest,
and he was justly and rightfully entitled to the ap-
pellation, ' Honest Abe.' Honesty was his great
polar star.

" Mr. Lincoln had also a good understanding ;
that is, the faculty that understands and compre-
hends the exact state of tilings, their near and re-
mote relation. The understanding does not neces-
sarily inquire for the reason of things. I must here
repeat that Mr. Lincoln was an odd and original
man ; he lived by himself and out of himself. He
could not absorb. He was a very sensitive man,
unobtrusive and gentlemanly, and often hid himself
in the common mass of men, in order to prevent
the discovery of his individuality. He had no in-
sulting egotism, and no pompous pride ; no haughti-
ness, and no aristocracy. He was not indifferent,
however, to approbation and public opinion. He
was not an upstart, and had no insolence. He
was a meek, quiet, unobtrusive gentleman. These
qualities of his nature merged somewhat his iden-
tities. Read Mr. Lincoln's speeches, letters, mes-
sages, and proclamations, read his whole record in

340 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

his actual life, and you cannot fail to perceive that
he had good understanding. He understood and
fully comprehended himself, and -what he did and
why he did it, better than most living men.

" There are contradictory opinions in reference to
Mr. Lincoln's heart and humanity. One opinion is
that he was cold and obdurate, and the other opin-
ion is that he was warm and affectionate. I have
shown you that Mr. Lincoln first lived and breathed
upon the world from his head and conscience. I have
attempted to show you that he- lived and breathed
upon the world through the tender side of his heart,
subject at all times and places to the logic of his
reason, and to his exalted sense of right and equity,
namely, his conscience. He always held his con-
science subject to his head ; he held his heart always
subject to his head and conscience. His heart was
the lowest organ, the weakest of the three. Some
men would reverse this order, and declare that his
heart was his ruling organ ; that always manifested
itself with love, regardless of truth and justice,
right and equity. The question still is, was Mr.
Lincoln a cold, heartless man, or a warm, affection-
ate man ? Can a man be a warm-hearted man who
is all head and conscience, or nearly so ? What, in
the first place, do we mean by a warm-hearted man ?
Is it one who goes out of himself and reaches for
others spontaneously, because of a deep love of hu-
manity, apart from equity and truth, and does what

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 34]

it does for Jove's sake ? If so, Mr. Lincoln was a
cold man. Or, do we mean that when a human
being, man or child, approached him in behalf
of a matter of right, and that the prayer of such
an one was granted, that this is an evidence of
his love? The African was enslaved, his rights
were violated, and a principle was violated in them.
Rights imply obligations as well as duties. Mr.
Lincoln was President; he was in a position that
made it his duty through his sense of right, his
love of principle, his constitutional obligations im-
posed upon him by oath of office, to strike the blow
against slavery. But did he do it for love? He
himself has answered the question : 4 1 would not
free the slaves if I could preserve the Union with-
out it.' I use this argument against his too enthu-
siastic friends. If you mean that this is love for
love's sake, then Mr. Lincoln was a warm-hearted
man — not otherwise. To use a general expres-
sion, Ins general life was cold. He had, however,
a strong latent capacity to love ; but the object must
first come as principle, second as right, and third as
lovely. He loved abstract humanity when it was
oppressed. This was an abstract love, not concrete
in the individual, as said by some. He rarely used
the term love, yet was he tender and gentle. He
gave the key-note to his own character, when he
said, ' with malice toward none, and with charity for
ill,' he did what he did. He had no intense loves,
and hence no hates and no malice. He had a broad

342 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

charity for imperfect man, and let us imitate his
great life in this.

" * But was not Mr. Lincoln a man of great
humanity ? ' asks a friend at my elbow, a little
angrily ; to which I reply, 4 Has not that question
been answered already ? ' Let us suppose that it
has not. We must understand each other. What
do you mean by humanity ? Do you mean that he
had much of human nature in him ? If so, I will
grant that he was a man of humanity. Do you
mean, if the above definition is unsatisfactory, that
Mr. Lincoln was tender and kind ? Then I agree
with you. But if you mean to say that he so loved
a man that he would sacrifice truth and right for
him, for love's sake, then he was not a man of
humanity. Do you mean to say that he so loved
man, for love's sake, that his heart led him out of
himself, and compelled him to go in search of the
objects of his love, for their sake ? He never, to
my knowledge, manifested this side of his character.
Such is the law of human nature, that it cannot be
all head, all conscience, and all heart at one and the
same time in one and the same person. Our Maker
made it so, and where God through reason blazed
the path, walk therein boldly. Mr. Lincoln's glory
and power lay in the just combination of head,
conscience, and heart, and it is here that his fame
must rest, or not at all.

" Not only were Mr. Lincoln's perceptions good ;
not only was nature suggestive to him ; not onty

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 343

was he original and strong ; not only had he great
reason, good understanding; not only did he love
the true and good — the eternal right ; not only was
he tender and kind, — but, in due proportion and
in legitimate subordination, had he a glorious com-
bination of them all. Through his perceptions, —
the suggestiveness of nature, his originality and
strength; through his magnificent reason, his un-
derstanding, his conscience, his tenderness, and
kindness, his heart, rather than love, — he approx-
imated as nearly as most human beings in this
imperfect state to an embodiment of the great moral
principle, 4 Do unto others as ye would they should
do unto you.'

" There are two opinions — radically different opin-
ions — expressed about Mr. Lincoln's will, by men
of equal and much capacity. One opinion is, that
he had no will ; and the other is, that he was all will
— omnipotently so. These two opinions are loudly
and honestly affirmed. Mr. Lincoln's mind loved
the true, the right, and good, all the great truths
and principles in the mind of man. He loved the
true, first ; the right, second ; and the good, the
least. His mini stru^ojed for truths and his soul

Do

for substances. Neither in his head nor in his soul
did he care for forms, methods, ways, — the non-
substantial facts or things. He could not, by his
very structure and formation in mind and lody,
2arc anything about them. He did not intensely

314 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

or much care for particular individual man, — the
dollar, property, rank, order, manners, or such like
things. He had no avarice in his nature, or other
like vice. He despised, somewhat, all technical
rules in law and theology and other sciences, —
mere forms everywhere, — because they were, as
a general rule, founded on arbitrary thoughts and
ideas, and not on reason, truth, right, and the good.
These things were without substance, and he disre-
garded them because they cramped his original na-
ture. What suited a little, narrow, critical mind
did not suit Mr. Lincoln's, any more than a child's
clothes did his body. Generally, Mr. Lincoln could
not take any interest in little local elections — town
meetings. He attended no gatherings that per-
tained to local or other such interests, saving gen-
eral political ones. He did not care (because he
could not, in his nature) who succeeded to the pres-
idency of this or that Christian Association or Rail-
road Convention ; who made the most money ; who
was going to Philadelphia, when and for what, and
what were the costs of such a trip. He could not
care who, among friends, got this office or that —
who got to be street inspector or alley commis-
sioner. No principle of goodness, of truth, or right
was here. How could he be moved by such things
as these? He could not understand why men
struggled for such things. He made this remark to
me one day, I think at Washington, 4 If ever this
free people — if this Government itself is ever

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 345

utterly demoralized, it will come from this human
wriggle and struggle for office — a way to live with-
out work ; from which nature I am not free myself.'
It puzzled him a good deal, at Washington, to know
and to get at the root of this dread desire, — this
contagious disease of national robbery in the nation's
death-struggle.

a Because Mr. Lincoln could not feel any interest
in such little things as I have spoken of, nor feel
any particular interest in the success of those who
were thus struggling and wriggling, he was called
indifferent — nay, ungrateful — to his friends. Es-
pecially is this the case with men who have aided
Mr. Lincoln all their life. Mr. Lincoln always and
everywhere wished his friends well ; he loved his
friends and clung to them tenaciously, like iron to
iron welded ; yet he could not be actively and
energetically aroused to the true sense of his friends'
particularly strong feelings of anxiety for office
From this fact Mr. Lincoln has been called un-
grateful. He was not an ungrateful man by any
means. He may have been a cool man — a passive
man in his general life ; yet he was not ungrateful.
Ingratitude is too positive a word — it does not con-
vey the truth. Mr. Lincoln may not have measured
his friendly duties by the applicant's hot desire ; I
admit this. He was not a selfish man, — if by self-
ishness is meant that Mr. Lincoln would do any
act, even to promote himself to the Presidency, if
by that act any human being was wronged. If it

B46 SIX MONTHS AT iHE WHITE HOUSE.

is said that Abraham Lincoln preferred Abraham
Lincoln to any one else, in the pursuit of his ambi-
tions, and that, because of this, he was a selfish
man, then I can see no objections to such an idea,
for this is universal human nature.

" It must be remembered that Mr. Lincoln's mind
acted logically, cautiously, and slowly. Now, having
stated the above facts, the question of his will and its
power is easily solved. Be it remembered thai Mr.
Lincoln cared nothing for simple facts, manners,
modes, ways, and such like things. Be it remem-
bered that he did care for truth, right, for princi-
ple, for all that pertains to the good. In relation to
simple facts, unrelated to substance, forms, rules,
methods, ways, manners, he cared nothing ; and if
he could be aroused, he would do anything for any
body at any time, as well foe as friend. As a politi-
cian he would courteously grant all facts and forms
— all non-essential things — to his opponent. He
did so because he did not care for them ; they were
rubbish, husks, trash. On the question of substance,
he hung and clung with all his might. On ques-
tions of truth, justice, right, the good, on principle
his will was as firm as steel and as tenacious as iron.
It was as firm, solid, real, vital, and tenacious as an
idea on which the world hinges or hangs. Ask Mr.
Lincoln to do a wrong thing, and he would scorn
the request ; ask him to do an unjust thing, and
he would cry, 4 Begone ! ' ask him to sacrifice his
ronvictions of the truth, and his soul would in-
dignantly exclaim, ' The world perish first ! '

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 847

" Such was Mr. Lincoln's will. On manners and
Buck like things, he was pliable. On questions of
right and substance, he was as firm as a rock. One
of these classes of men look at Mr. Lincoln from
the stand-point of things non-essential, and the other
looks at him from the stand-point of substance, re-
jecting forms. Hence the difference. Mr. Lin-
coln was a man of firm, unyielding will, when, in
human transactions, it was necessary to be so, and
not otherwise. At one moment Mr. Lincoln was
as pliable and expansive as gentle air, and at the
next moment he was as biting, firm, tenacious, and
unyielding as gravity itself.

"Thus I have traced Mr. Lincoln through his
perceptions, his suggestiveness, his judgments, and
his four great predominant qualities, namely, — his
powers of reason, his great understanding, his con-
science, and his heart. I assert that Mr. Lincoln
lived in the head. He loved the truth ; he loved
the eternal right and the good, — never yielding the
fundamental conceptions of these to any man for
any end.

" All the follies and wrong Mr. Lincoln ever fell
into, or committed, sprang or came out of his weak
points, namely, his want of quick, sagacious, intu-
itive judgment, — his want of quick, sagacious, in-
tuitive knowledge of the play and meaning of the
features of men as written on the face, — his tender-
ness and mercy, and, lastly, his utterly unsuspecting
nature. He was deeply and seriously honest him-

348 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

self, and assumed that others were so organized
He never suspected men. These, with other de-
fects of his nature, caused all his follies and wrongs,
if he ever had any of either.

** All the wise and good things Mr. Lincoln ever
did, sprang or came out of his great reason, his con-
science, his understanding, and his heart, his love
of truth, right, and the good. I am speaking now
of his particular and individual faculties and quali-
ties, not their combination, nor the result of wise or
unwise combinations. Each man and woman must
form his or her own estimate of the man in the
mind. Run out these facts, qualities, and faculties,
and see what they must produce. For instance, a
tender heart ; a wise, strong reason ; a good under-
standing, an exalted conscience, a love of the good,
must, in such combination, practically applied, pro-
duce a man of great humanity.

44 Take another illustration in the combination of
his faculties and qualities. Mr. Lincoln's eloquence
lay, 1st, in the strength of his logical faculty, his
supreme power of reasoning, his great understand-
ing, and his love of principle ; 2d, in his clear, ex-
act, and very accurate vision ; 3d, in his cool and
masterly statement of his principles, around which
the issues gather ; in the statement of those issues,
and the grouping of the facts that are to carry con-
viction, aided by his logic, to the minds of men of
every grade of intelligence. He was so clear that
he could not be misunderstood nor misrepresented.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 349

He stood square and bolt upright to his convictions,
and formed by them his thoughts and utterances.
Mr. Lincoln's mind was not a wide, deep, broad,
generalizing, and comprehensive mind, nor versatile
quick, bounding here and there, as emergencies
demanded it. His mind was deep, enduring, and
strong, running in deep iron grooves, with flanges
on its wheels. His mind was not keen, sharp, and
subtile ; it was deep, exact, and strong.

" Whatever of life, vigor, force, and power of
eloquence the whole of the above qualities, or a
wise combination will give ; whatever there is in
a fair, manly, honest, and impartial administration
of justice, under law, to all men at all times, —
through these qualities and capabilities given, never
deviating ; whatever there is in a strong will in
the right, governed by tenderness and mercy ;
whatever there is in toil and a sublime patience ;
whatever there is in particular faculties, or a wise
combination of them, — not forgetting his weak
points, — working wisely, sagaciously, and honestly,
openly and fairly ; — I say, whatever there is in
these, or a combination of them, that Mr. Lin*
coin is justly entitled to in all the walks of life.
These limit, bound, and define him as statesman,
oracor, as an executive of the nation, as a man of
humanity, a good man, and a gentleman. These
limit, bound, and define him every way, in all the
ways and walks of life. He is under his law and
his nature, and he never can get out of it.

350 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

" This man, this long, bony, wiry, sad man,
floated into our county in 1831, in a frail canoe,
down the north fork of the Sangamon River, friend-
less, pennyless, powerless, and alone, — begging for
work in this city, — ragged, struggling for the com-
mon necessaries of life. This man, this peculiar
man, left us in 1861, the President of the United
States, backed by friends and power, by fame, and
all human force ; and it is well to inquire how.

".To sum up, let us say, here is a sensitive, diffi-
dent, unobtrusive, natural-made gentleman. His
mind was strong and deep, sincere and honest, pa-
tient and enduring ; having no vices, and having
only negative defects, with many positive virtues.
His is a strong, honest, sagacious, manly, noble life.
He stands in the foremost rank of men in all ages,
— their' equal, — one of the best types of this Chris-
tian civilization."

LXXX.

At the end of six months' incessant labor, my task
at the White House drew near completion. On the
22d of July, the President and Cabinet, at the close
of the regular session, adjourned in a body to the
State Dining-room, to view the work, at last in a
condition to receive criticism. Sitting in the midst
of the group, the President expressed his " un-
schooled " opinion, as he called it, of the result, in
terms which could not but have afforded the deep-
est gratification to any artist.

SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 351

The curiosity of the public to see the picture was
so great that during the last two days of my stay in
Washington, by the kind permission of the Presi-
dent, it was placed in the East Room, and thrown
open to the public. During this time the house was
thronged with visitors, the porters estimating their
number each day at several thousands.

Towards the close of the second day's exhibition,
intending to have the canvas taken down and rolled
up during the night for transportation to New York,
I watched for an opportunity to say a last word to
Mr. Lincoln previous to his leaving for the Sol-
diers' Home, where the family were then staying,
At four o'clock the carriage drove up to the door,
accompanied by the " Black-Horse Cavalry " es-
cort. Knowing the President would soon appear, I
stepped out under the portico to wait for him. Pres-
ently I caught sight of his unmistakable figure stand-
ing half-way between the portico and the gateway
leading to the War Department leaning against the
iron fence, — one arm thrown over the railing, and
one foot on the stone coping which supports it, evi-
dently having been intercepted, on his way in from
the War Department, by a plain-looking man, wha
was giving him, very diffidently, an account of a
difficulty which he had been unable to have recti-
fied. While waiting, I walked out leisurely to the
President's side. He said very little to the man,
but was intently studying the expression of his face
vvhile he was narrating his trouble. When he had

352 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

finished, Mr. Lincoln said to him, " Have you a
blank card ? " The man searched his pockets, but
finding none, a gentleman standing near, who had
overheard the question, came forward and said,
" Here is one, Mr. President." Several persons
had in the mean time gathered around. Taking
the card and a pencil, Mr. Lincoln sat down upon
the low stone coping, presenting almost the appear-
ance of sitting upon the pavement itself, and wrote
an order upon the card to the proper official to
" examine this man's case." While writing this,
I observed several persons passing down the prom-
enade smiling, at what I presume they thought the
undignified appearance of the head of the nation,
who, however, seemed utterly unconscious, either
of any impropriety in the action, or of attracting
any attention. To me it was not only another
picture of the native goodness of the man, but of
true nobility of character, exemplified not so much
by a disregard of conventionalities, as in uncon-
sciousness that tli ere could be any breach of eti-
quette or dignity in the manner of an honest attempt
to serve or secure justice to a citizen of the Republic,
however humble he might be. Rising to his feet he
handed the man the card, with a word of direction,

and then turning to me said : " Well C , I

must go in and take one more look at the picture
before you leave us." So saying, he accompanied
me to the East Room, and sitting down in front
of it, remained for some time in silence. I said tha*>

. SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 353

I nad at length worked out my idea, as he ex-
pressed it at our first interview, and would now be
glad to hear his final suggestions and criticism.

41 There is little to find fault with," he replied ;
" the portraiture is the main thing, and that seems
to me absolutely perfect."

I then called his attention afresh to the accesso-
ries of the picture, stating that these had been
selected from the objects in the Cabinet chamber
with reference solely to their bearing upon the sub-
ject. " Yes," said he, " there are tl;e war-maps,
the portfolios, the slave-ma.]), and all ; but the book
in the corner, leaning against the chair-leg, — you
have changed the title of that, I see." " Yes," I
replied ; " at the last moment I learned that you
frequently consulted, during the period you were
preparing the Proclamation, Solicitor Whiting's
work on the 4 War Powers of the President,' and
as Emancipation was the result in fact of a mil-
itary necessity, the book seemed to me just the
thing to go in there ; so I simply changed the
title, leaving the old sheepskin cover as it was."
44 Now," said he, " Whiting's book is not a regu-
lar law-book. It is all very well that it should
be there ; but I would suggest that as you have
changed the title, you change also the character of
the binding. It now looks like an old volume of
United States Statutes." I thanked him for this
criticism, and then said : " Is there anything else
that you wculd like changed or added ? " u No,"

S3

354 SIX MONTHS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. .

he replied, and then repeated very emphatically
the expression he used when the design was first
sketched upon the canvas : " It is as good as it
can be made."

I then referred at some length, to the enthu-
siasm in which the picture was conceived and had
been executed, concluding with an expression of
my profound appreciation of the very unusual op-
portunities afforded me in the prosecution of the
work, and his unvarying kindness and considera-
tion through the many weeks of our intercourse.

He listened pensively, — almost passively, to me,
— his eyes fastened upon the picture. As I fin-
ished he turned, and in his simple-hearted, earnest

wTay, said : " C , I believe I am about as glad

over the success of this work as you are." And
with these words in my ear, and a cordial " good-
bye " grasp of the hand, President and painter
separated : the one to gather into and around
himself more and more the affections of a mighty
people, till in the culmination and attainment of
all his heart's desires he should be called from
" glory to glory ; " the other, in his humble sphere,
to garner as a precious legacy to him and his
these fragments of leaves from the daily life of one
whose name and fame — inseparably bound up with
devotion to freedom and reverence for law, fra-
grant with the tender memories and sweet humani-
ties of life — are to grow brighter and stronger
with God's eternal years, as men learn to appre-
ciate and emulate a true Christian manhood.

INDEX.

Adams, J. Q., 211.
Alley, Hon. J. B., 119.
All-noise Story, 212.
Amnesty Proclamation, 98.
Andersonville, 177.
Apparition, 164.

Arnold, Hon. I. N., 150, 237, 302.
Ashley, Hon. Mr., 151.
Ashmun, Hon. George, 284-286.
Assassination, 63.

B.

Baker, G. E., 127.
Baldwin, Judge, (Cal.,) 245.
Baltimore Convention, 162.
Barrett, Hon. J. H., 86, 254.
Bateman, Newton, 192.
Bates, Attorney- General, 55.
Battle, Fair Oaks, 139.
Beecher, Henrv Ward, 135, 230.
Bellows, Rev. Dr., 81, 274.
Bible Presentation, 199.
Bingham, Hon. John A., 234.
Blair, Hon. M., 21, 46. 88
Booth, Edwin, 49.
Bowen, H. C, 221.
Brady, M. B., 46.
Braine, Lieutenant, 94.
Brooks. Noah, 63, 165, 188, 235.
"Bulletin," (San Francisco,) 223.
Bnrnside, 81.

C.

oabinet Meeting, 55.
Cameron, Secretary, 136-133, 253.
Cannon, Colonel L. B., 115.
Cass, General, 271.

Chase, 21, 84, 85, 86, 88-90, 130
218, 223; letter to Stanton, 180

Cheever, Rev. Dr., 147.

Chicago Convention, 119.

Christian Commission, 161.

Clark, Senator, 276.

Clav, Henrv, 71.

Colfax, Hon. Schuyler, 14, 85, 87
172, 177, 195, 285.

Concert, Marine Band, 143, 168.

Creech, 68.

Creeds, 190.

Crittenden, General, 46

Cropsev, 168.

Curtin," 82-84.

Cushing, Lieutenant, 232.

Dall, Mrs. C. H., 165.
Defrees, 126.

Deming, Hon. H. C, 190, 219.
" Demonstrate," 314.
Derby, J. C, (N.Y.,)290.
Description of Picture, 27.
Dole, Commissioner, 282.
Douglas, Hon. Stephen A., 194,

237, 249, 315.
Douglass, Frederick, 204.

E.

Elliott, (Artist,) 69.
Emancipation, 21, 73, 74, 77 78.

86, 196, 197, 269, 307.
Equestrian Statues, 71.
Ewing, Hon. Thomas, 37.

F.

Fessenden, Hon. W. P., 182.

356

INDEX.

Field, Rev. II. M., 135.
Florida Expedition, 48.
Ford, Hon. Thomas, 296.
Forne}-, Colonel, 267.
Forrest, Edwin, 114.
Frank, Hon. A., 2L8.
Freedmen, 196.
Fremont, 47, 220, 221.

Gamble, Governor. 242.

Gartield, General, 240.

Garrison, 167.

Gilbert, Wall Street Assessor, 255.

Goldsborough, Admiral, 240.

Grant, General, 56, 57, 265, 283,
292.

Greeley, 152.

Greene, W. T., 267.

Gulliver, Rev. J. B., Reminis-
cences, 309.

H.

Halpine, Colonel, 63, 278.
Hammond, Surgeon-General, 274,

275.
Hanks. Dennis, 299.
Harris. Hon. Ira, 175.
Hav, John, 45, 149.
Henderson, Rev. Mr., 320.
Henry, Dr., (Oregon,) 302.
Herndon, Hon. Wm. H. ; analysis

of Mr. Lincoln's character, 323.
Higbv, Hon. William, 148
Holland, Dr., 79, 191.
Holmes, O. W., 58.
Holt, Judge, 32, 33.
Hooker, General, 233.
Hospitals, 107.
Hubbard, Hon. Mr., (Ct.,) 253.

"Independent," New York, 88,

230, 2S7.
" Ingenious Nonsense," 158.
[nman, (Artist,) 69.
Interview, lirst, with Mr. Lincoln,

18.

J.

Jackson, ' Stonewal ," 234, 2o8.

Johnson, Hon. Andrew, 108.
Johnson, Oliver, 77.
Jones, (Sculptor,) 34.

K.

Kelly, Hon. Win., 92, 165, 294.

King, Starr, 228.

Knox, William, (Poet,) 60.

L.

Lincoln. Hon. G. B., of Brooklyn,
110, 113, 234.

Lincoln, Mrs.. 165. 293. 301.

Lincoln, President, account of
Emancipation Proclamation, 20
76, S3. 85, 90, 269, 307; his sad-
ness, 30 ; love of Shakspeare, 49 ;
memory, 52 ; appreciation of poe-
try, 59 ; " Oh, why should the
spirit of mortal be proud?" 60;
opinion concerning Assassina-
tion, 62; " Latin" quotation, 78;
exceptionable stories, 80 ; on
Wall Street gold speculators
84; closing sentence, 89 ; " prom-
ised his God," &cM 90 ; his ma-
tured judgment upon the act of
Emancipation, 90 ; simplicity
and humility, 95; his first dol-
lar, 96 ; Amnesty Proclamation,
interview with Hon. Robert Dale
Owen, 98; account of capture
of Norfolk, 104, 210; exhausted
patience illustrated, 106, 108;
•wounded Mar}iander, 109; as
surveyor, 111; "new clothes,"
113; axes, 113,289; never read
a novel, 114; interview with
Rev. Dr. Vinton, 117; telegram
to friends at Chic;igo Conven-
tion, 120; reception of nomi-
nation, (I860,) 121; temperance
principles, 125: "sugar-coated,"
126 ; the signing of public doc-
uments, 128; speech to foreign
minister, 128; on ofiice-seekers,
129, 145, 276: borrowing the
army, 130; Sunday-school cele
bration. 130 ; regard for chil
dren, 132 ; " the babv did it,'
133; pardon cases, 4\ 43, 133

INDEX.

35:

171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176. 250,
296, 319; Five Points' Sun-
day-School, 133; at Henry
Ward Beecher's church, 131;
relations with Cabinet, 135; Sec-
retary Cameron's Report, 136;
General Patterson, 137; Sec-
retary Cameron's retirement,
138; interview with P. M. Wet-
more) (N. Y.,) 110; sensitive-
ness 141,145; "thin skinned,"
145; willingness to receive ad-
vice, 146; "canvassed hams,"
148; indifference to personal
appearance, 148; Nieolav and
Hay, 149; " Nasby Letters,"
151; relief found in storv-tell-
ing, 152; Greeley, 152,' 153;
newspaper reading, 154; news-
paper "gas," 155; newspa-
per "reliable," 156; Chicago
" Times," 156; " ingenious non-
sense," 158; "husked out," 158;
letter to Lovejoy Monument
Association, 160; Massett, 160;
Christian Commission, 162; re-
nomination, 162 ; apparition,
164; Mrs. Lincoln, 164, 293.
301; speech to committee from
Baltimore Convention, and Wil-
liam Lloyd Garrison, 167;
Mrs. Cropsey, 168 ; and soldiers,
169; reprieves, 171; a hand-
some President, 174 ; idiotic
boy, 176; Andersonville prison-
ers, 178; retaliation, 178; Fes-
senden, 182 ; McCulloch, 184;
religious experience, 185-188;
rebel ladies, 189; Col. Deming,
19'0; creeds, 190; Newton Bate-
man, 192 ; slavery, 194 ; prayer,
195; epitaph suggested, 196; Bi-
ble presentation, 197; Caroline
Johnson, once a slave. 199 ;
Sojourner Truth, 201-203; Fred-
erick Douglass, 204; memorial
from children, 204; New Year's
Dav, 1805, 205; *' walk de
earf like de Lord," 209;
Rebel Peace Commissioners, 212 ;
"slave map," 215; Kilpatrick,
216; personal description, 217,
823 • opinion on the war,
219; text, applied to Fremont,

220 ; reappointment of Fre-
mont, 222; California lady's ac-
count of a visit at " Soldiers'
Home," 223; on " trees." 224 ;
"school of events," 225; Mc-
Clellan, 130, 143, 227, 255;
Peace Convention, 229; Henry
Ward Beecher, 230; popularity
with the soldiers and people,
231; portraits, 46, 231; Lieu-
tenant Cushing, 232; last in-
augural, 234 ; his election to
the legislature in 1834, 234;
never invented a " story,"
235 ; first political speech, 2*36 ;
contest with Douglas, 237; af-
fection for his step-mother, 238 ;
reply to anti-slavery delegation
from New York, 239 ; reply to
a clergyman, 239; concerning
Gov. Gamble of Missouri, 242 ;
on Seward's "poetry," 242; be-
trothal of Prince of Wales,
243 ; honesty as a lawyer, 245 ;
" attorney of the people," 245;
" little influence with this ad-
ministration," 246; reply to
Stanton's detractor, 246: the
German lieutenant, 246; Gen-
eral Grant's " whiskey," 247;
no personal vices, 247 ; ser-
enade speeches, 248 ; his own
war minister, 249; illustration
from "Euclid," 249; "pigeon-
hearted," 250 ; " minneboohoo,"
251; Hannibal's Avars, 253 ;
reports of committees, 253 ;
Brigadier-Generals, 254, 260 ;
twelve hundred thousand reb-
els in the field, 255 ; Assessor
Gilbert, 255 ; on canes, 256 ;
hogshead illustration, 256; on
Missouri Compromise, 257 ;
" Statute of Limitations," 257 ;
Blondin crossing Niagara,
257; reply to attacks, 258;
Chicago " Democratic Plat-
form," 259; death of John Mor-
gan, 259; case of Franklin W.
Smith, 259; " roval" blood,
2fil; reading the" Bible, 262;
thinking of a man down South
263; presentiment of death, 263;
the wards of the nation, 264 j

358

INDEX.

Lincoln and Stanton, 265; as
a flat-boatman, 267; Louisiana
negro, 263; Stonewall Jackson,

268 ; replv to Kentuckians,

269 ; letter to General Wads-
worth, 270; extract from speech
in Congress, 271; ''browsing
around," 272; the negro porter,
272; Rev. Dr. Bellows and Sur-
geon-General Hammond, 274 ;
the election of President the
people's business, 275; appoint-
ment of chaplains, 277 ; appreci-
ation of humor, 278 ; ''public
opinion baths," 281 ; "on the
Lord's side," 282; going down
with colors flying, 282; opinion
of General Grant, 283 ; interview
with Messrs. Colfax and Ash-
mun, evening of assassination,
284; at City-Point hospital, 287;
Lincoln and the rebel soldier,
288; last interview with Secre-
tary Seward, 200; his dream,
292; last afternoon, 293 ; Lincoln
and Willie Bladen, 294; " you
don't wear hoops'" &c, 2*97 ;
Grist illustration, 298; his duel,
302; interview with Judge Mills
and ex-Gov. Randall, (Wis,)
305 ; Lincoln and Rev. J. P. Gul-
liver, 309; shedding of blood,
the remission of sins, 319 ; Lin-
coln and the drummer-boy, 319 ;
consideration of the humble
illustrated, 321; " may you live
a thousand years, and always
be the head of this great na-
tion," 322; Herndon's analysis
of character, 323 ; indifference
to ceremony, 326 ; tinal criti-
cism of the painting, 353 ; fare-
well words, 354.

Lincoln, Robert, 45, 300.

Lincoln, " Tad," 44, 91, 92, 293,

300.
Lincoln, " Willie," 44, 116.
Lovejov, Hon. Owen, 14, 17, 18,

20, 47, 57, 157.

Lincoln's "Stories."

General Scott and Jones the
sculptor, 34; " great " men, 37;

Daniel Webster, 37, 131 ; Thad.
Stevens, 38; "a little more
light and a little less noise,"
49; tax on "state" banks, 53 :
Andv Johnson and Colonel
Moody, 102; " chin fly," 129;
Secretary Cameron's retirement,
138; Wade and Davis' "mani-
festo," 145; "second advent,"
147; "nothing but a noise,"''
155: "swabbing windows,"
159 ; " mistakes," 233 ; " picket "
storv, 233; "plaster of psalm
tunes," 239; " Fox River," 240;
"nudum pactum," 241; har-
monizing the " Democracv,"
244 ; Mrs. Sallie Ward and
her children, 247 ; a Western
judge, 250; " lost my apple over-
board," 252; rigid government
and close construction, 254 ;
" breakers " ahead, 256 ; coun-
terfeit bill, 262; blasting rocks,
262; General Phelps's emanci-
pation proclamation, 273 ; mak-
ing " ministers," 277; John Ty-
ler, 278; the Irish soldier and
Jacob Thompson, 283 ; Jeff".
Davis and the coon, 284; last
story, — " how Patagonians eat
oysters." told to Marshal La-
mon on evening of assassina-
tion, 285.

M.

Marine Band, 168.

" Massa Sam 's dead," 207

McClellan, 130, 143, 227, 255.

McCulloch, Hon. Hugh, 179, 185.

McKave, Colonel, 208.

McVeagh, 242.

Memor}', 52.

Miller, Hon. S. F., 5, 174.

Mills, Judge J. T., (Wis.,) 305.

Mix, Captain, 261.

Moody, Colonel, 102.

Morgan, John, 259.

Morgan, Senator, 74.

Murtagh, Mr., (Washington,) 521

N.

" Nasby Papers," 151.

INDEX.

359

Newspapers, 154.

Nicola v, 149.

Norfolk, (capture,) 104, 240.

Novels. 115.

O.

Odell, Hon. Iff. F., 170, 173.
" Oh why should the spirit of
mortal *be proud V" (Poem,) 60.
Owen, Robert Dale, 98.

Pardon applications, 40, 43, 132,
171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 17G, 250,
296, 297, 318.

Patterson, General, 137.

Peace Conference at Hampton
Roads, 2U9.

Phelps, General, 273.

Pierpont, Rev. John, 78, 179.

R.

Randall, ex-Governor, (Wis.,) 305.
Raymond, 95, 129.
Red River disaster, 55.
Religious character, 185.
" Root," General, 70.
"Root Hog" Storv, 211.

Shields and Lincoln, 302.

"Simmons, Pollard," 111.

Sinclair, 16, 48.

Sizer, Nelson, 134.

Slave Map, 215.

Smith, Franklin W., 259.

» Sojourner Truth," 201-203.

" Soldiers' Home," 223.

"Spectator." (London,) 31.

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 101.

Stanton, Secretary, 33* 54, 264

300.
Stephens, Alexander, 211, 215.
Stephens. Mrs. Ann S., 131.
Stevens, Hon. Thaddeus, 38, 173.
Stone, Dr., 81.
Swayne, (Sculptor,) 59.

Taylor, B. F., 154.
Thompson, George, 75.
Thompson, Rev. J. P., 143, 186

259.
Tilton, 89, 167, 196.

Van Alen, 173.

Vinton, Rev. Francis, 117.

W.

Scott, General, 34.

Seward, Secretary, 22, 69,
242; on Clay and Webster,
on "Equestrian" Statuer,
on Emancipation, 72; on
Lincoln, 81; Seward and
coin, 290 ; the last interv
290 : first knowledge of
President's death, 291.

Sevmour, General, 48.

Shakspeare, 49, 115, 150, 162.

Shannon, Hon. Thomas, 147,

Sherman, General, 233.

Wade and Davis, 145.
Wadsworth, General. 270.
223, Washington, raid on,' 301.
,71; Webster, 37, 71, 130.
71; Welles. Secretarv, 232.
Mr. Wetmore, P. M., 140.
Lin- Wilderness battles, 30.
lew, Wilkeson, 101.
the Willets, Rev., 187.
Willis, N. P., 115.

148.

Yates, Governor, 267.

'

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u